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Billy Baldree of Brandon has been named Mississippi State Hospital’s (MSH) November 2007 Employee of the Month for Support Services.
Baldree, a native of Brandon, is the MSH Fire Marshal.
The MSH Employee of the Month award recognizes employees who have made outstanding contributions to the hospital through their work. The program is sponsored by Friends of Mississippi State Hospital Inc.
Melinda Foote of Brandon has been named Mississippi State Hospital’s (MSH) November 2007 Employee of the Month for Licensed Clinical Services.
Foote, a native of Greenwood, is a registered nurse at MSH.
The MSH Employee of the Month award recognizes employees who have made outstanding contributions to the hospital through their work. The program is sponsored by Friends of Mississippi State Hospital Inc.
Miss. State Hospital November service award recipients include: (first row, l-r) Lou Ann Cox of Brandon (October honoree), 20 years; Nancy Bingham, of Hazlehurst, five years; Ollie Jones of Jackson, 10 years; (second row, l-r) Robertha Williams of Gallman, five years; Denise Rogers of Jackson, 15 years; Rebecca Lucky of Whitfield, five years; Steve Alford of Florence, 20 years; (third row, l-r) Beth Killary of Brandon, 10 years; Cornelius Amos of Pearl, five years; and Steven Werth of Pearl, 10 years.
Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) recently honored employees with November anniversary dates for their years of service to the hospital. Service awards are given to employees in the month of their date of hire, beginning with five years and every fifth year following. Employees receive a Certificate of Appreciation and a Service Award Pin. The program is sponsored by Friends of Mississippi State Hospital Inc.
Jan Botts, Nurse Executive for the Tupelo Campus of North Mississippi State Hospital (NMSH), has been named one of Mississippi's 50 Leading Business Women 2007 by the Mississippi Business Journal. She will be honored at a luncheon during the Mississippi Business Expo in January.
Botts is a graduate of Shannon High School. She received a nursing degree from Northeast Mississippi Community College; a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Mississippi University for Women, where she graduated with honors; and a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Mississippi State University. She served as an admission supervisor, nursing resources director, occupational health nurse, and nurse link manager during her eighteen years at North Mississippi Medical Center. She has been employed with NMSH since 1998.
Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) will host a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4 for its new $2.7 million regional mental health Crisis Intervention Center in Brookhaven, Miss.
“We are excited that this facility has opened its doors and is providing much needed mental health care to residents of Lincoln County and the surrounding region,” said MSH Director James G. Chastain.
The 16-bed facility, located at 725 Brookman Drive Extension, will employ up to 50 full-time and contract staff, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, mental health technicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, recreational therapists, security officers, maintenance workers and housekeepers.
“We have a very hardworking and knowledgeable staff that will provide our patients with the highest standard of care,” said Tish Dettor, director of Crisis Intervention Center Services for MSH.
The center, which is located on property donated to the Mississippi Department of Mental Health by the city of Brookhaven and Lincoln County, will serve 10 counties in southwest Mississippi and provide short-term treatment up to 30 days for adult males in need of acute mental health care.
“This facility will definitely help provide services closer to the community,” Dettor said.
The 14,557-square foot facility built by Brookhaven general contractor Paul Jackson and Son has three separate patient units, including two units that contain four one-bed rooms and one unit that contains four two-bed rooms. The center also features an admission room, day room, bathrooms with showers, laundry area, pharmacy, employee lounge, cafeteria, kitchen, treatment rooms, administrative offices and storage.
Besides the Brookhaven facility, MSH operates two other regional centers in Cleveland and Grenada, Miss. Each 16-bed regional center provides short-term, acute psychiatric treatment to adults who live in the hospital’s designated 51-county catchment area, are in crisis and have been admitted through the Chancery Court system. The three facilities are among seven similar centers statewide operated by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
Funding for construction of the Brookhaven Crisis Intervention Center and full operation of all seven mental health crisis centers statewide was included in legislation – House Bill 210 – signed into law last year by Gov. Haley Barbour.
The dean of the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center has been recognized by one of the world’s largest physiological societies for his outstanding contributions to mentoring and research.
Dr. Joey Granger, Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor, professor of physiology and biophysics and professor of medicine at UMC, will receive the American Physiological Society’s fifth Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award at the society’s 2008 Experimental Biology meeting April 5-9 in San Diego, Calif. Granger, associate director of the Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular Renal Research at UMC, is only the second physiologist with ties to the Medical Center to receive the distinction.
“I am truly honored by this award from the American Physiological Society, especially the mentoring aspect of the award,” Granger said. “The Department of Physiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center has a long tradition of mentoring. It is quite easy to be a good mentor when you train and work in an environment where comradery and collegiality is the norm.”
Dr. Dan Jones, UMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, said the award is a tangible reflection of Granger’s contributions to physiological mentorship.
“Mentorship is a critical process in the development of scientists and in the academic environment,” Jones said. “This recognition for Dr. Granger recognizes his commitment to mentorship and says much about him and the Department of Physiology.
“I am grateful to Dr. Granger for his leadership in our institution and happy to see his leadership recognized by a national organization.”
Granger’s research involves the investigation of how thin layers of cells inside the blood vessels alter kidney function and induce high blood pressure during a pregnancy-related disease called preeclampsia. This form of hypertension affects as many as 5-7 percent of all pregnancies in the United States and is one of the leading causes of maternal death and perinatal morbidity.
According to the APS, “the valuable research Dr. Granger has done on this subject may lead to better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of preeclampsia.”
“We are enormously proud of Dr. Joey Granger and what he has accomplished, nationally and at UMC,” said Dr. John Hall, Arthur C. Guyton Professor and chair of physiology and biophysics at UMC. “I have known Joey for over 25 years and had the pleasure of closely observing the development of his outstanding career, serving as his graduate thesis major advisor, his department chair and as a colleague in various national and international organizations.
“In all of these activities, Joey has shown extraordinary leadership capabilities and has been an extraordinary mentor for young researchers. He is an outstanding teacher, researcher and mentor and has worked hard to help our young faculty and students develop their careers.”
As a physiologist, Granger has mentored five visiting scientists, including 13 postdoctoral fellows and 10 pre-doctoral students. He is founder of a mentoring group for junior faculty which assists in obtaining departmental funding and has established a summer research internship program.
Since being named dean of the School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences May 1, the APS said Granger has improved graduate education by “providing superior stipend and health insurance support for all graduate students at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Granger also participates in his local community by serving as a judge for local science fairs and frequently speaking at area high schools.” Dr. Michael Ryan, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics at UMC, said Granger is “more than deserving” of the award.
“This merely officially recognizes what we in physiology have known for a long time: Dr. Granger is an outstanding scientist and mentor,” Ryan said. “What is most striking is that Dr. Granger is genuinely interested in the success of everyone in the department, not just the members of his own lab. “He has had a major hand in any success that I have had this far as a faculty member at UMC.”
Granger received the BS in biology-chemistry from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette in 1979 and the PhD from UMC in 1983. He completed postdoctoral training at the Mayo Clinic and Foundation in Rochester, Minn., in 1985.
He was appointed assistant professor of physiology at the Mayo Medical School in 1985 and joined the faculty of the Department of Physiology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in 1986. He joined the Medical Center faculty in 1990 as professor of physiology and biophysics.
A member of several professional organizations, including the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society of Hypertension, the American Heart Association, the Inter-American Society of Hypertension, the International Society of Nephrology and Sigma Xi, Granger is the author of more than 175 manuscripts and 250 abstracts.
He has received numerous awards, and his research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1984.
Yancy Cooper has been named Director of Marketing at Rankin Medical Center. Her job responsibilities include managing advertising campaigns for the major product lines, coordinating internal and external publications and planning special events throughout the hospital. A native of Bruce, she graduated with a BBA and an MBA in Marketing from Delta State University.
Nate Howell has been named Chief Operating Officer at Rankin Medical Center. Howell joined HMA in July of 2006 and worked as the Vice President of Clinical and Support Services for River Oaks Hospital System in Flowood, MS, before moving to Rankin Medical Center in Brandon, MS, as the Chief Operating Officer. Howell completed his undergraduate studies at Colby College in Waterville, ME, and received an MBA from Cornell University in late May.
King's Daughters Medical Center employee volunteers help manage the area annual Toys for Tots Drive. Toy drop boxes are available in the lobby of KDMC, Business Services and Therapy & Fitness. Unwrapped toys for ages 1 to 12 years should be dropped into boxes before Wednesday, Dec. 12th. (Standing from left) Jamie Smith, Amy Kimble, Debbie Hoaglin, Kevin Kimble; (seated from left) Martha Morgan and Mandy Spring.
A spirit of joy and giving will be evident at Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) next month with several special events and programs scheduled to celebrate the holiday season.
The 2007 MSH Christmas parade begins at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 14 on the hospital’s Whitfield campus. The parade, which travels a 2-mile long route across the campus, will feature several local high school marching bands, floats, horses, antique cars and Santa Claus.
This year’s grand marshal is Gale Martin, executive director of the Rankin County Chamber of Commerce. The theme for the 2007 parade is “The Faces of Christmas.”
In addition to the parade, the hospital’s Volunteer Services division has begun scheduling Christmas parties for MSH patients and Jaquith Nursing Home residents.
“Our hospital is so fortunate to have churches, schools, and other civic groups and organizations who take the time to come and spread Christmas cheer among the individuals we serve,” said Sheila Shows, Volunteer Services manager. “The food, the gifts, the singing, the story telling and the fellowship really help make Christmas brighter for our patients and residents.”
Another exciting part of MSH’s Christmas activities is Santa Day, which will be held Dec. 21. On that day, each of the 1,600 patients, clients and residents served on the Whitfield campus, in the community services program in Jackson, and at the Crisis Intervention Centers in Brookhaven, Cleveland and Grenada will receive a gift bag containing clothes, personal items, fruit and candy. The bags are hand-delivered by civic, business and other community leaders who dress up as Santa Claus and make their rounds to patient and resident buildings and other facilities.
“The patients and residents are always excited to see Santa Claus coming with a bag full of goodies,” said MSH Director James G. Chastain. “For some of them, that’s the only Christmas present they will receive.”
Shows said the hospital is able to provide gifts because of the generosity of groups and individuals.
“As a state-operated facility, we cannot use general funds to purchase Christmas gifts or to host parties,” she said. “Therefore, we rely on people from all across the state, and even the nation, to provide our patients and residents with a memorable Christmas.
“We thank those who have volunteered year after year, whether by hosting a party, serving as a Santa, or writing a check,” Shows said. “Without our volunteers, a lot of our patients would not experience the joy and excitement of the holiday season.”
Shows said it is not easy to serve 1,600 patients and residents using only donated items.
“We are able to do a lot, but there is much more we could do if we had the funds,” she said. “That’s why we are encouraging more people to get involved by helping us help those who are less fortunate.” Members of the public who want to help can donate new clothing items, personal care items, or even books, games, puzzles, or art supplies to the MSH Christmas House, which will open Dec. 1 in Building 71 on the Whitfield campus. Individuals can also give monetary donation by making checks payable to Mississippi State Hospital. The checks can be mailed to MSH Volunteer Services, P.O. Box 75, Whitfield, MS 39193. For more information on donation opportunities or to host a party, call Shows at (601) 351-8377.
