Suzanne Johnston couldn't keep the tears from flowing as she recalled memories from her 31 years of living in Greenwood and her time at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
Johnston, the hospital's director of nursing, will leave her post today to be near her daughter and grandson in Clinton. She will take over as infection control director for the Mississippi State Hospital in Jackson on Dec. 6.
Replacing Johnston with the new title of associate director of nursing will be Rebecca Edwards. Edwards has worked at the hospital since 1981 and served as assistant director of nursing under Johnston.
"I feel like I'm leaving things in good hands," Johnston said.
Leaving is not going to be easy, Johnston said. "I will miss Greenwood tremendously because I have lived here for 31 years and have so many dear friends."
But having missed so much when her children were young, Johnston said she doesn't want to do that with her grandchild.
"I gave up so much when my children were growing up because I had so much responsibility at the hospital, but when that grandchild was born, I decided that I wanted to be able to have the time to spend with my children and any future grandchildren," Johnston said. "My new job will allow that."
Johnston, a native of Allentown, Pa., went to nursing school at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated in 1966. After graduation, she worked there in the labor and delivery department and the nursery.
In 1969, Johnston moved to Hattiesburg, where she worked at Forrest General in neurology and the medical-surgical unit. While in Hattiesburg, she became director of nursing for the first home health agency to open in south Mississippi.
She later moved to Atlanta and worked at several hospitals there before moving to Greenwood in 1971.
After her two children were born, Johnston started working at Greenwood Leflore Hospital in the PEER Review organization. In 1979, she became infection control and quality assurance nurse.
Johnston took on the role of assistant director of nursing at Greenwood Leflore in 1981, and she was promoted to director of nursing in 1997.
Johnston said she has seen many changes in nursing. When she started, nurses had to sharpen their own needles for injections, and they used reusable glass syringes.
"We even powdered our own gloves," she said. "That was part of our duties."
Nurses still wore the old white uniforms and caps when Johnston started out. "That's a trend now that's coming back - the white uniforms, not the caps. But the old caps denoted the school you graduated from."
One of the hardest things Johnston has had to deal with has been the nursing shortages.
"I've been through three nursing shortage cycles," she said. "The first was in 1985, then another in '92. That's when we went to Filipino nurses. Now there's this one, and it will be here a long, long time."
But caring for patients is near to Johnston's heart. She said nothing has changed the fact that nurses are constantly at their patients' bedsides.
"I was always here to serve the patients at Greenwood Leflore Hospital and my nursing staff," Johnston said.
"I am really proud when someone has been an aide and then goes back to school and becomes a nurse," she said. "You are never too old to become a nurse."
Johnston said she reads all the time in the "Just Ask Your Neighbor" piece in the newspaper about people who wish they had gone into nursing.
"We are always looking for kind, caring, intelligent people - male and female - and scholarships are available," Johnston said.
She said the hospital staff in Greenwood, especially the nursing staff has become a second family to her.
"I have learned so much from all of them and have had so much love and concern for them. I can never begin to tell them how much they all have meant to this transplant Yankee," she said.
Johnston said she has a favorite adage that she has tried to follow. It goes something like this: "People might not remember what you did for them or what you said to them, but they will remember how you made them feel. I can only hope that it made them feel good."
One thing Johnston said she won't miss is being on call 24 hours a day and the constant worry about staffing. She said she will not be on call at her new job, and she will work only Monday through Friday.
The nursing staff painted a tile, with colors that match Johnston's kitchen, with remembrances from the past. She also received an angel in the same colors.
Pat Verhage, who worked with Johnston 11 years as a nurse recruiter before her retirement, described Johnston as "a caring nurse who always had the best interest of her patients and her nurses at heart.
"I think it's going to be a real loss for Greenwood," Verhage said. "She'll be very much missed."
Being a nurse has been only part of Johnston's contributions to the community. She has served on the board of directors at the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, and she has served as chairman of the education committee. Johnston was on the board of directors at Greenwood Little Theatre. She has been in the Community Band for 25 years and has served as band vice president. She also has been on the board of directors for the Mississippi Hospital Association Organization of Nurse Executives.
At First Presbyterian Church of Greenwood, she has served on the board of deacons and was a past moderator of women at the church.
She has two children - Christine Polk of Clinton and Albert Means Johnston of Nashville. Her grandson is Rudy Wilson "Will" Polk III.
