Renovated Emergency Department Brings New Era of Care to Perry County General Hospital
IN THE NEWS: Forrest Health was featured in WDAM. Read More: HERE
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – (December 19, 2025) Those who work at Perry County General Hospital (PCGH) in Richton have big smiles on their faces and the atmosphere is most definitely merry and bright this holiday season. But it’s not just employees. Patients, who seek treatment at the facility, visitors, family, and members of the community are finally able to enjoy the completion of renovation work to the hospital’s Emergency Services area.
Work at the hospital, which began in 2024, has included a number of improvements throughout the facility including a new trauma room, nurses’ station, updates to ER patient rooms, new exterior and interior ER entrance and waiting room, overflow rooms, storage facilities, a call light system, a new lighted helipad, new and expanded equipment, furnishings, cosmetic changes such as flooring and painting, LED lighting, and much more.
The hospital was established in 1964 as a 30-bed county-owned comprehensive healthcare facility to provide quality healthcare for the citizens of Perry County and the surrounding region. It came complete with operating, emergency, and delivery rooms. But the past 60 years had taken a toll on the Bay Avenue facility.
These days, the hospital, which has been part of the Forrest Health system since 2022, is classified as a Rural Emergency Hospital (REH), a designation it received in 2024. The facility, which does not have inpatient beds, provides 24-hour emergency and observation services as well as a variety of outpatient services including radiology, laboratory, therapy, and infusions. The addition of a designated trauma room, complete with all the equipment one might need for any problem that comes in, makes it readily accessible around the clock.
That 24-hour emergency service has already paid off on numerous occasions. One such incident involved two children riding on a side-by-side along a country road that was being paved. The 12-year-old driver scooted over to the edge of the pavement where the vehicle flipped, pinning a younger child. The child was rushed to PCGH, stabilized by the staff, and airlifted to Jackson where she made a full recovery. “It’s always emotional in a pediatric situation, but everyone rallied around that little girl, not just the nursing staff, but Radiology and Lab, and all the measures were followed,” Administrator Shenika Russell said.
“Weeks later, the mom came in, thanked us and told us if the hospital hadn’t been here her little girl wouldn’t have made it,” said Russell. “So, it’s stories like this that are so meaningful for a rural hospital, especially an REH. We are here for the community, for the locals, and anybody that needs us. In situations like this, we don’t know how many patients we would lose if we weren’t here.”
The REH status meant a lot of changes with staff, especially extensive education, according to Russell. With this designation, staff members had to be prepared for anything that came through the doors, so new skills had to be acquired. Some of those included moderate sedation, stroke certification, and obstetrics training. “I know the staff is competent and can take care of anybody who comes through our doors needing assistance,” Russell said.
Trauma Care Coordinator Shana Barnes has been a member of the staff since she graduated nursing school and started work at the hospital in 2012. She has watched the transformation and how it has impacted not only those who walk the floors on a daily basis, but those who depend on the hospital for care. “It was independently owned when I started working nights shifts on the Med-Surg floor. It looked old and needed updates,” she remembers. “We were still doing paper charting until we received an electronic health system. If patients were going to other facilities, we would provide them with a paper copy of their chart or put it on a disc for them to carry with them.”
She said when Forrest Health took over and PCGH became part of the health system, it provided more opportunities for advanced care for the patients, which was very beneficial. Also, the IRIS electronic health system helps patients see their records on their phone or computer. It also made it easier to collaborate care with a patient’s specialty physicians. Doctors could submit orders, the patient would come to the hospital for lab work or outpatient procedures and as soon as the results came it, they went straight to the provider rather than being faxed over to them.
Barnes said the most noticeable facelift has been in the ER, which is manned around the clock by two nurses, a tech, and a provider. “Patients have definitely noticed and with the cosmetic changes, it’s a much more pleasant experience for them,” she said. “It has definitely made the facility look newer even though it has been around for 61 years.”
Limited access doors in the ER waiting room now prevent anyone from coming in off the street and walking through the hospital. Those needing access beyond the doors must be buzzed in by Registration. “Now everyone feels safe, and employees aren’t in an environment where they constantly have to look over their shoulders,” said Russell. “Patients have also been encouraged by the safety measure.”
Barnes said she feels the improvements have brought more people in. “People come in and see the advancements – a new trauma room, triage fast-track area, observation area, and accessibility for outpatient treatments – and they go tell family and friends. I think having the hospital is vital,” said Barnes. “If out in a rural area and something major happens, you have to drive 45 minutes or more to get to a major hospital,” she said. “People can come here, we can stabilize them and are able to continue that care by transferring them to a higher level care facility.”
A new and improved lighted helipad has been a blessing, especially for helicopter crews flying in. The previous helipad had no lights and Barnes said when a helicopter needed to land employees had to call the Richton Police Department to come shine their lights alongside employees with flashlights to help guide the helicopter in. These days, the expanded helipad has fresh paint, lights, and a paved pathway to the hospital’s ER entrance that awaits crews bringing patients in via air.
If anyone has noticed the changes, it’s Angela Meadows, Radiology supervisor, who has been on staff for 31 years. She remembers back to the days when Radiology had a darkroom where films had to be processed, and hung for drying, which is now obsolete.
“We are all digital now with top-of-the-line equipment,” she said. “These changes and updates make us proud, and our patients love and appreciate what has been done.”
A mobile CT unit used to come in so scans could be done. Now they have their own CT machine. Work in Radiology has been made quicker with the updates to equipment and processes. Meadows recollects when films used to be picked up once a day for processing and reading. “Now we get reports back within the hour,” she said. While the Radiology staff does basic X-rays and CTs, they also do advanced scans, angiograms, pulmonary embolism studies, CT head and neck scans and a lot of outpatient work.
Small communities mean you often know a lot of the people and PCGH is a good case in point. “We have patients that know us when they come in,” she said. “We see our Richton folks very regularly. They see the faces of people they’ve trusted for years and that goes a long way. These improvements make us feel better, more confident, our jobs easier and better; we are proud of where we work,” Meadows said. “People are visual, so aesthetics are important.”
Meadows knows how beneficial the hospital is to those in the surrounding area. “One of the best things about being here is that most of the time these patients don’t have time to get to a larger facility,” she said. “They wouldn’t make it out of the city limits.”
For those in the surrounding area, on nights, weekends, and holidays when clinics are closed or overwhelmed, people turn to the ER for care for things as minor as a head cold, cough, bad headache, or other ailments when nothing else is available. It’s that or drive 45 to 50 minutes to an Urgent Care facility. “Sometimes we are their only option,” Meadows said.
According to Russell and to Suzanne Wilson, RN, BSN, executive director for Operations Support, the PCGH is fortunate to have skilled providers across the system. Their involvement has greatly strengthened continuity of care, communication, and trust among all Forrest Health facilities.
“The Emergency Department doctors at Forrest General know that when they receive a patient from one of our regional facilities, that patient is coming from a colleague they already know and trust,” Wilson said. “They also have a good understanding of the level of care that has already been provided. This process has helped our providers gain a deeper appreciation for the challenges of practicing in rural settings, especially since many of them now rotate among all the facilities. Altogether, it strengthens Forrest Health as a unified system.”
All these changes are a source of pride for the staff. “They value everything they have now, because they didn’t have it before,” Russell said. “They hardly had anything. A lot of people once referred to Perry County General as a Band-Aid station. Now, everyone knows we have the means it takes to care for anyone who comes through our doors.”
Russell said health fairs and other types of education regarding the services the hospital offers are promoted every month, whether out in the community, at schools or clinics around town.
Since changes and improvements have been made, there’s definitely been a uptick in the numbers of patients the hospital has seen. “We hit our highest mark in the ER in August,” said Russell. “Before that, our monthly census has been going up from 200, 210, 215 to more than 300 then 400. We’re going to be pushing 500 soon. I attribute that to a competent staff, and getting the word out in the community that we can treat anybody who comes in. There is no stopping what we can do.”
As in Perry County, Forrest Health continues to grow and improve its facilities in order to best serve those throughout its 19-county coverage area and all of South Mississippi. With every expansion, every new service, and every investment in people and technology, we reaffirm our commitment to those who depend on us. Forrest Health, rooted in care.
ABOUT FORREST HEALTH
Forrest Health is a system of healthcare organizations formed to increase access to quality health care in south Mississippi. Forrest General Hospital is its flagship hospital. In addition to Forrest General, Forrest Health hospitals include: Highland Community Hospital, Picayune; Jefferson Davis Community Hospital & Extended Care Facility, Prentiss; Marion General Hospital, Columbia; Pearl River County Hospital & Nursing Home, Poplarville; Perry County General Hospital, Richton; and Walthall General Hospital, Tylertown. Forrest Health is also home to The Orthopedic Institute and Institute of Neuroscience, both in Hattiesburg, as well as a variety of healthcare clinics throughout its 19-county coverage area.
