By Thea Jarvis

Agnes McKniff Driskell’s first memory of Atlanta is the interior of the rectory of Sacred Heart Church downtown. There, she and her husband Ira were wed on the very day she arrived in the city. He was a Southern Baptist; she was a proper Catholic girl from Lancashire, England. They had met during World War II and were engaged for four and a half years before the wedding finally took place. No doubt it was a quiet ceremony and a rather unheralded arrival for the 27-year-old young woman who had come to make her home in the States.

Since then, of course, times have changed. No longer are marriages between Catholics and those of other faiths confined to the darkened parlors of parish rectories. And no longer is Agnes Driskell an unobtrusive figure walking the sidewalks of the South’s busiest city.

This month, she was named one of 11 Georgians chosen to receive the “Ones Who Care” award from WXIA-TV Channel 11.Cited for her ongoing work with Continuum, an alliance of health care professionals and private citizens which promotes proper pre-natal care for all Georgians, Mrs. Driskell has been recognized for 16 years of service in the field of maternal and infant care.

Her concern is for the “babies who are going to be born. So much depends,” she feels strongly, “on their good care.”

As she speaks, discussing the legislative lobbying and one-on-one counseling which make Continuum an effective outreach, it is apparent that Agnes Driskell is one volunteer who puts her heart, as well as her hands, into her work.

Her heart was won, she recalled, at a National Council of Catholic Women’s convention held at the University of Colorado in 1968. There, as a representative of the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, she heard Dr. Virginia Apgar give a family affairs workshop that focused on the care of the pregnant woman and how it affected the baby she was carrying.

In Denver, Mrs. Driskell learned that the March of Dimes “had just started going into (the area of) birth defects,” and when she returned to Atlanta, she asked the AACCW’s Family Affairs Committee to consider working with the March of Dimes.

They consented, and out of the affiliation came BIB, or Better Infant Births, a coalition of church groups and private individuals -- including the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, B’nai B’rith Women, St. John’s Episcopal Church in College Park and the Women’s Auxiliary of the Jewish War Veterans among others -- that works with March of Dimes to foster expanded pre-natal care and healthier babies.

Agnes Driskell, working with BIB as a liaison for the AACCW Family Affairs Committee, eventually ended up representing BIB on Continuum’s board of directors.

“It’s a network, really,” she says of the interaction between all three groups. “It unifies us in the same area.”

One of the assets of the Continuum program is that it covers the whole state of Georgia, Mrs. Driskell explained. Its two-pronged effort focuses on lobbying the Georgia legislature for bills that would support solid pre-natal and childcare, and operating POWERLINE, a phone referral system that helps pregnant women in financial need find appropriate medical care.

Over the years, Mrs. Driskell has manned POWERLINE and drummed up legislative support for pregnant women and their children. She has been in the trenches as well; one memorable case involved a woman who had sought transportation to Grady Hospital, “a very sick woman, about eight months pregnant,” she remembered.

In a crowded emergency room, Mrs. Driskell sought help for the woman, who was in obvious distress. She was ushered in to a nearby office, emerging quickly with an agitated doctor who directed them upstairs to the maternity ward for an ultrasound test.

“It was twins,” Agnes Driskell related happily. “Everything turned out fine.”

Things are not always so dramatic for the “Ones Who Care” recipient. Much of Mrs. Driskell’s work involves plodding, long-term interaction with the state legislature. Results are not guaranteed; successes are generally achieved by anticipating the current legislative agenda and being on scene to deliver input.

In the just-adjourned legislative session, Mrs. Driskell was called upon twice to represent the needs of the pregnant woman and her child. During hearings to determine how block grant monies were to be distributed, Mrs. Driskell and other Continuum members lobbied for financial aid for pregnant woman who would otherwise go without care. As a result, funds were set aside to support midwife programs in areas where doctors were unavailable.

In another instance, what has come to be popularly known as Act 1300, a bill passed last year compelling hospitals to admit women about to give birth even if they have no funds to cover expenses, was to be amended. Continuum members, including Mrs. Driskell, were on hand to lobby and the bill “was amended and passed the way we wanted it,” she said.

“I’m not a regular lobbyist,” Agnes Driskell is quick to point out. But, “if they need me to speak” on behalf of those who have little voice and less power, she is available.

Two of Mrs. Driskell’s favorite projects, related to her Continuum work but not a direct part of it, are the Better Infants Birth layette and “Mother of the Year” programs.

In the layette project, baby clothing and supplies are gathered by churches in the area near the South Dekalb Mall Health Clinic, which sees approximately 120 women each month. The layettes are put together by women from Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Decatur, Mrs. Driskell’s home parish, and distributed to the women who give birth.

“It’s an educational and motivational program as well,” Mrs. Driskell said, since women come to receive the needed clothing, but end up taking classes which prepare them for delivery and parenting. The “Mother of the Year” program ties in to six clinics served by BIB in the metro Atlanta area, awarding a $50 savings bond to a woman at each clinic who has faithfully followed medical instructions and had a successful delivery.

As part of WXIA-TV’s “Ones Who Care” program, recipients designate a charity to receive the $1000 stipend, which is the material aspect of their award.

Agnes Driskell has asked that $500 be granted to the Continuum operation, $300 to the Archdiocese of Atlanta Crisis Pregnancy Service, and $200 to the Better Infant Births/March of Dimes layette program.

Awards will be presented March 26 at the Waverly Hotel in Atlanta. The program will be videotaped and televised March 31 on WXIA-TV from 7-8 p.m.

Before the official presentation, Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Decatur honored Agnes Driskell in their own way. Last Sunday, at the 9 o’clock Mass, Mrs. Driskell received special recognition for her contribution to maternal and child care. A reception in her honor was held after Mass with friends and fellow parishioners. On hand were Agnes Driskell’s husband, the man who started it all when he brought her to Atlanta 38 years ago, and her daughters Jean and Therese, along with her two grandchildren, Shannon Michael and James Louis.

“They’re good to me,” Agnes Driskell said of the support she has received from her parish and her family. “They have been just so joyous about it.”