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I Intelligencer Safety comes first for Deanna Dulmage. It is her strong belief in keeping people safe that fuels her role as chairman of the Greater Belleville Safe Community (GBSC) for the past two years. "My desire quite simply is to make peo- ple more aware of safety in everything they do in their day-to-day lives from something as simple as strapping your child in a car seat, wearing a seatbelt yourself or exercis- ing your right under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to refuse to work on an unsafe piece of equipment," she said. Her organization has implemented an increasing number of safety-related pro- grams since its inception in 1997, includ- ing safety groups and Risk Watch and has even revived Elmer the Safety Elephant. "I believe our organization will truly make a difference in our community," said Dulmage, who is employed as the health and safety co-ordinator for Hastings County. Dulmage believes someone has to take the reins when it comes to promoting safe- ty locally and she's really glad it's GBSC. "In my 25 years experience in human resources and health and safety, I -have found that although we have come a long way, safety still often continues to take a back seat to the profit line of companies or organizations," said the Lexington Crescent resident. "When you work in health and safety, you truly have to fight to get management to support the health and safety programs within the working environment. The Greater Belleville Safe Community is assist- ing with those concerns by the number of programs that it supports." As a professional person in her mid-50s, Dulmage said she now feels she has the time to volunteer and give back to the community. She credits her late father, Roy, for instilling in her "the personality of truly a caring nature and the desire to assist oth- ers." The city native and Belleville Collegiate Institute graduate followed her father (a teacher and administrator) into the former Hastings County Board of Education. Dulmage who kept her maiden name joined the board's accounting department shortly after the birth of her first son, Dwayne. She and her spouse, Sam, have been together for 27 years and they have three children and six grandchildren. She later moved to Nestle Canada in Trenton and worked in human resources. After the company closed in 1994, she joined the Campbellford and District Association for Community Living as direc- tor of human resources and finance. "It was there that the true desire to help others became very strong," said Dulmage. "I believe that all people should have the opportunity to work with individuals that face significant challenges to change their perspective on life. It is an uplifting experi- ence." Working in human resources was the perfect place to work for someone who wants to make a difference, she noted. "It is a special honour to be able to assist your co-workers when they are fac- ing tough times ... I am fortunate to be an individual that believes the glass is 'half full'. I know that difficult situations often lead to better times. It is this philosophy that always kept me strong when dealing with the difficult times." While in Campbellford, Dulmage helped open the Campbellford Community Resource Centre and it became of hub of activity for young and old alike. "With virtually no money we created an 15