Chap Nelson is known far and wide for his chainsaw wood-carving abilities and the once-annual event held at the family farm in Bradley, but he is also known by hundreds of folks in Middle Georgia for his abilities as a nurse and nursing home administrator.
Nelson, 55, also is the founder of the Chaptacular Chainsaw Carving Bash, which kicked off in 2007 and ran until 2019, when COVID-19 hit. The charity event was highly successful, attracting thousands of visitors from around the country.
“We raised over a million dollars for Cystic Fibrosis,” Nelson said in an interview last week. “It became so popular with wood-carvers, we had to cut it off at 80.
“We haven’t done it since COVID hit, unfortunately,” Nelson shared. “We stopped then, and it was just so many moving parts to make that happen. We haven’t been able to pull everybody back together again to pull that off. I don’t know that it will ever happen again. But, never say never.”
There is a 25-foot sasquatch on his property near Bradley that attracts curious visitors year-round. Nelson, who began wood carving in 2004, is impressed with the attention the sculpture has drawn.
“About three weeks ago, it got put on the ‘I grew up in Georgia’ website,” he said. “People from Jones County that lived in the area started talking about how I lived there and how it was done. The weekend that hit, I got people there from 8 o’clock in the morning until sunset.”
There is a box adjacent to the sasquatch for donations to Cystic Fibrosis.
“I have gotten about three grand off that box,” he said.
The Jones County High graduate started his educational journey at what is now Middle Georgia State College and went to Georgia College before taking some time off. His grades were not what they needed to be, he confessed.
Nelson said the grades were not acceptable to his dad.
“You don’t waste Brick’s money much. He said three strikes, and you’re out. That’s when I went to work at Cherokee [Products]. And, Cherokee is motivating to do something different.
“Nothing like a little motivation. I remember (co-owner) Mr. Bloodworth calling me in and saying, ‘This is a step for a lot of people. Some people never leave, but you need to leave.’ I said, ‘yes sir, I understand.’” The plant, now closed, was a cannery that could, depending on your position, require some serious and sticky labor to can peaches in syrup.
“Brick wouldn’t pay any more until I had proven myself,” Nelson recalled. “He said, ‘You pay for the next time you go back. I’ll never pay for anything you waste again. You pass, and I’ll reimburse you. You fail, and I won’t pay’.
“Well,” he chuckled, “I never failed again.”
Nelson went on to nursing school and interned at the Medical Center of Central Georgia, and almost a year and a half after graduation, started in November of 1993 at Green Acres Nursing Home. He stayed there until 1998, when he was transferred to Lynn Haven Nursing Home in Gray.
Nelson pointed out that the operation of Gray Nursing Home, Lynn Haven and Green Acres was sold to Ethica Health and Retirement in 1993.
”This is my 31st year with them,” he said.
Nelson obtained an administrator’s license in 1998, but he was still director of nursing at Lynn Haven when Bel-Arbor in Macon, also affiliated with Ethica, contacted him in May of 1999.
“They had a challenging position as administrator open,” he said. “They had a union trying to unionize the facility, and they asked me to come over and help lead the campaign against the union, which we won.
“I got started as an administrator under fire, so to speak,” he figured. “It was one of those deals where the first year especially was very challenging.”
Nelson said he took that position with a caveat.
“The deal was I would go over there, but when an opportunity opened up in Gray, I would come back to Gray,” he explained. “Six years later, the guy at Gray (Nursing Home) left, and I transferred back to Gray. “That was 2005, and I’ve been here ever since.”
The Gray Nursing Home facility was closed when Autumn Lane was constructed, and the move to the new location was made in 2019.
Nelson was more than an administrator for a couple of years, when he had a ‘side job’ as a member of the Jones County Board of Commissioners. He ran unopposed in 2010 for the vacant District 2 seat but had announced in 2012 he was going to qualify for the countywide chairman position. However, health issues intervened two months after he made his intentions known.
“Politics is a little bit like drugs,” he said. “Lot of people don’t stop on their own. Some don’t get out of politics on their own.”
Nelson developed a respiratory illness, thought to be sarcoidosis, as well as a bleeding disorder. He decided not to run for chairman and simply finished out his term.
“I got out of politics … I guess God got me out of politics … So, I haven’t gotten back in politics and hopefully I won’t.”
Nelson mentioned, however, that he now has a “semi-political role” by being a member of the Tri-County EMC Board of Directors.
“That’s a gentler, friendlier environment. The people I work with there, the things I am able to achieve. You still get that little bit of excitement of being on a board and having your agenda and the things you support or don’t support.”
While a commissioner and now as an EMC board representative, Nelson believes he needs to think about how the people he represents would feel.
“What would the people think? As far as every vote I have, I keep in mind what would the constituents think about that.”
He also says he is conservative and tries to reflect that in his decision- making on the EMC board, particularly in matters relating to the rates customers must pay.
“I really have a problem in overbilling somebody in the EMC world. You should pay for the function of government, but you shouldn’t build a huge war chest, in my opinion. That means you’re charging too much for the service you’re providing.”
That attitude and his work ethic have been recognized by others. He was named Administrator of the Year within the Ethica family in 2007 as well as by the Georgia Health Care Association in 2009.
“The time at Bel-Arbor was a challenge,” he reflected, “and I think what I achieved there, combined with we got off to a good start when I got to Gray, that’s the time I won both of those awards.”
Nelson, who was a volunteer for the Jones County 4-H program for 15 years and on the College and Career Academy Board for six years and said he enjoys his job in large part due to the location.
“I had the perspective of working in Milledgeville and Macon those years,” he noted. “There’s nothing like working in your hometown, taking care of people you see every day. That can sometimes be challenging, but for the most part it’s the advantage of I know them and they know me.”
Nelson dispels any thoughts that a nursing home is simply a place to take the elderly to die.
“About 30 percent of what we do is when people have significant health changes in their life,” he declared. “They can come here, get better and go home. We have a significant rehab unit. We have a very engaging activities department and family interaction.”
Nelson is proud of his staff of approximately 100. He appreciates their efforts and fully believes Autumn Lane provides a quality environment. He is realistic, however.
“I’m not going to be naïve. I think we run a good building. But,” he acknowledged, “it’s 24/7, and it takes two minutes for a serious concern to happen. When you look at it that way, two minutes is not long when you run 24/7.
“Everybody has their ups and downs,” Nelson noted. “A long time ago, Brick told me, when I first started, ‘you come home and say what a rough day you had.’ Then, he’d say, ‘if everything went right every day, what the heck would they need you for?’
“And so, I’m here to make those minutes as least challenging as they can be.”
