A lot of things have changed in 40 years, but some things still stay the same.
One constant in Columbia has been The Myrtles Nursing Center.
The Myrtles opened Jan. 14, 1979, as a 60-bed nursing center in the same location as it is now on Alberta Avenue. On July 25, there will be a 40th anniversary celebration.
Jean Jones was the first owner and administrator of the facility. She said she designed it to be a homey type atmosphere close to the normal activities of the residents. The Myrtles was named after her mother, Myrtle.
When it was first opened, it was strictly private pay, no insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, and nursing assistants did not need to be certified.
Now the facility has 98 beds and has its own certified nursing assistants program. Gail Whittington, the current administrator, said the program is done so the assistants learn how the administration wants the patients to be treated.
In addition to private pay, The Myrtles now accepts Medicaid and Medicare for both short-term and long-term care.
In the 40-year history there have only been three administrators. Jones was the first followed by Jeanette Crain and now Whittington. Whittington began with The Myrtles in 1991 as the business manager and eventually worked her way up to administrator.
One of the things Whittington said she is proud of is the number of long-term employees they have, including Susan Montgomery who has been there for 31 years.
Regarding the changes in medical care through the years, Whittington had this to say, “We started out giving excellent service and we still do it.”
The Myrtles now has a physical therapy program, a certified nurse practitioner who comes in four days a week and Dr. Tori Russell with the Hattiesburg Clinic comes in once a week. They also work with hospice.
Whittington said it is important to create strong family group dynamics for the patients. One of the ways that is done is there are no visiting hours so the families can come and go at the patient’s leisure. While most of the rooms are private, there are some semi-private rooms, that according to Kathy Morgan, activities director, most of time you cannot tell which patient’s family is visiting; they just all become one extended family.
Whittington said she is proud of the fact of when a patient does an outing with their family, that at the end of the day, the patient is ready to “come home.” She wants the patients to feel like they are at home and comfortable.
Morgan said when a patient has died, the family is provided with a special Bible to commemorate the time spent at The Myrtles.
In honor of The Myrtles 40th anniversary, there will be an anniversary celebration complete with a “butterfly release” on July 25 from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.
The public is invited to attend.
Pictured Above: The Myrtles resident Audrey Craft is all smiles sitting in her room Thursday. Craft, who is 90, handmade the blanket, which has quilting stitches and also cross-stitch. | Photo by Susan Amundson
