A Familiar Face Through Four Decades of Change
When Betty Mae Garner first walked through the doors of Crosby Memorial Hospital in Picayune nearly 40 years ago, nurses still wore crisp white uniforms and caps, patient records were handwritten, and much of today's medical technology had yet to be imagined.
Today, Highland Community Hospital looks very different.
Modern equipment fills patient rooms. Advanced technology allows physicians to diagnose and treat illnesses that once required patients to travel elsewhere for care. A new hospital stands where years ago there was only a vision. Through it all, one thing never changed — Betty Mae's commitment to the people who walked through those doors.
After spending 18 years at Crosby Memorial Hospital and another 20 years at Highland Community Hospital following Forrest Health's acquisition in 2006, Garner recently retired, closing a career that gave her a front-row seat to nearly four decades of change in healthcare while caring for generations of families in Pearl River County and surrounding communities.
Her journey began as a Pearl River Community College nursing student working nights as a nursing aide.
"That was when we had eight-hour shifts," she recalled. "I worked 11 p.m. until 7 a.m., changed clothes, drove to PRCC for classes, went home to sleep for a little while, then went back to work. I was young then and had more strength to do that."
After becoming a registered nurse, Garner worked wherever she was needed — Medical/Surgical, the Emergency Department, Intensive Care, Telemetry and even Obstetrics.
Few memories remain as vivid as the weeks following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when Crosby Memorial Hospital sustained significant damage.
"The Army Corps of Engineers brought in tents and set them up in the parking lot," she said. "I was the night supervisor, and the only patients we could accept inside the hospital were obstetrics patients. Everyone else was treated in the tents. We'd stabilize them and fly them to hospitals that could take care of them."
For Garner, those moments reflected what community hospitals have always done — caring for people no matter the circumstances.
"I've seen so many changes over the years," she said. "When I first started, things were so different. We didn't have the equipment we have today, and there were so many things that just weren't possible then."
"But we saved a lot of lives in the Emergency Room at Crosby," she said. "We didn't have specialists then. We had general practitioners. Through the years we brought in more doctors, better equipment, our own CT scanner instead of sharing a mobile unit with hospitals in Slidell and Bogalusa, better medicines, and better ways of caring for patients."
"Back then, there wasn't anywhere to eat at night," she said. "One of us would make soup, and I'd bring sandwiches. We'd cook for each other because that's what you did."
One of the most significant changes came when Forrest Health acquired Crosby Memorial Hospital and transformed it into Highland Community Hospital. Garner watched new physicians arrive, services expand, technology advance and, eventually, a new state-of-the-art hospital open its doors.
Garner said it was rewarding to watch the hospital grow through the years.
"Seeing the new hospital, expanded emergency and trauma areas, new equipment and all the improvements meant our community had access to things we never had before," she said. "It also created more opportunities for employees."
She also watched the workforce evolve.
"Younger employees came in with new ideas and new energy," she said. "It was nice to see that."
Despite all the advances, Garner says the most meaningful part of her career never changed.
"It was always the people," she said. "I loved talking with the patients and meeting new people. Sometimes people are nervous or afraid when they come to the hospital, and just taking time to talk with them lets them know we're there to take care of them and that we truly care about what they're going through."
Those relationships, she says, are what she'll miss most.
Although she had hoped to work another year or two, health concerns led her to retire a little earlier than planned.
Retirement, however, hasn't slowed her down.
She stays busy canning Georgia peaches, reading stacks of murder mystery novels, volunteering alongside her husband with the Senior Center and VFW, singing for local groups, and, whenever she's allowed, mowing her yard on a zero-turn mower. She also still has a ceramics shop filled with molds and a kiln waiting to be used again.
"I may fire that up again," she said with a smile.
Recently, Garner's decades of service were recognized in a way she never expected.
Thinking she was simply accompanying her husband on an errand, she was surprised when they pulled up to Picayune City Hall to find members of the Picayune City Council, Highland Community Hospital leadership, current and former coworkers, her daughter, grandchildren, and other family members waiting to honor her.
"I had no idea," she said with a laugh. "When I saw everyone standing there smiling, I was completely surprised."
City leaders praised Garner's decades of compassionate nursing, the meals she shared with coworkers, her volunteer service throughout Pearl River County, and the kindness that touched countless patients and families through the years.
The recognition celebrated more than the length of her career. It honored the quiet moments that rarely make headlines — comforting anxious patients, encouraging coworkers during long shifts, mentoring younger nurses, and showing up, day after day, for the people who needed her most.
As Highland Community Hospital recently celebrated 20 years as part of the Forrest Health system, Garner's career serves as a reminder that while healthcare continues to evolve, its greatest strength has always been the people who provide it.
Technology changes.
Buildings change.
Uniforms change.
Compassion never does.
