Combined
Years of Service Total 242
One is a licensed practical nurse who says Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center is her home. Another is a financial counselor at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center who says she's part of a team whose singular aim is to take care of patients. A third is a licensed practical nurse in Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center's Surgical Services department who remembers a patient and his wife with whom she bonded over a sweet potato custard. A fourth is the clinical manager of Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) who remains in awe at being able to witness the miracle of a baby's first breath. A fifth is radiologic technologist at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center who is grateful for the opportunity to live and work among friends who raised their families together.
These five individuals are among Atrium Health Floyd's longest-serving teammates. Their combined years of service total 242 years, and their stories reflect a theme that is emblematic of the Atrium Health Culture Commitment: We Work As One Team To Make Great Things Happen.
Susan Wills, LPN
With 51 years of service, Susan Wills currently is Atrium Health Floyd's longest-serving teammate. She was born at Polk General Hospital, now Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center, and likes to tell the story that she started her life there, left for a little while to grow up and go to school, and then came back home.
“Polk Medical Center is my home," Susan said. “I raised my son coming in and out of Polk General, and many, many years later, my grandson came along. It's been the same with him. It's not just part of my life, it's part of their lives too."
One of her most memorable experiences was being on the team that administered the very first Tissue Plasminogen Activator (TPA or clot-buster) treatment to a patient having a heart attack at Polk Medical Center.
“I looked up on the monitor and watched his rhythm change right in front of me," she said. “That was amazing. When TPA first came out, we wondered will it really do this? Well, it did, and he went on to live many years after that."
Today TPA is used primarily on stroke patients as other interventions have come into play for heart attack patients, but for several years it was the go-to intervention for cardiac emergencies, and Susan was one of the pioneers who put that drug into action.
Ann Martin, Financial Counselor
Ann has been a teammate at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center for 49 years.
“It's been like family. You get to know everyone and just about everyone in the county knows me. They come in and ask for Miss Ann. I became Miss Ann a few years ago; that's when you know you're old," Ann laughed.
Ann said that hers is a helping role.
“I like to feel like I'm helping someone, helping the patients, and I have had the opportunity to do that. A lot of older people don't have anyone to help them, and there are a lot of programs they don't know about."
The family aspect of working at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center played out in a very personal way for Ann.
“One of my sons was really sick," she said. “He was at the University of Alabama Medical Center for about nine weeks. As soon as he was admitted, my phone immediately went to ringing with coworkers asking, 'Do you need anything? Do you have money? Do you have everything you need?' They were so good to me.
“At Cherokee, it's not just one person taking care of a patient or a family. We work as a team. Of course, we're smaller, but it's a team working together. Everyone jumps in. I guess that is what I have loved so much about it."
Patty Burney, LPN
Patty Burney has worked in many different areas over the course of her 45-years at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, including a 21-year stint in the intensive care unit. She currently works in Surgical Services.
She said she chose to remain at Atrium Health Floyd throughout her career because it is a caring place with opportunities to grow. She remembers one particular patient she cared for in the ICU.
“He came in on a vent, and we didn't really know what was wrong with him. The doctors finally decided it had to do with the chicken farm he was working on. We kept him and nurtured him for 7 months. He was with us so long that we switched his room so he wouldn't have to look at the same thing all the time. At Christmastime, when he had gotten better, we fixed it up so he could have an area for his family to come see him, and he wanted some sweet potato custard."
Patty asked his family if they had prepared his holiday favorite for their celebration. They had.
“I said, 'Go get him some!' All we had to do was just give him enough to taste. That gave him so much pleasure. He always sticks out in my mind. His wife was there all the time. She would go home because she knew we were taking good care of him. They were just like part of my family. He was just my heart."
Patty's patient improved, was moved to a nursing floor and eventually went home. "It was awesome to be able to take care of him like that. We worked so hard to get him better so he could go home."
Kerry Sayre, Radiologic Tech
Kerry chose to pursue a career in Cherokee County because he was from the area and wanted to raise his family there. He trained at Holy Name of Jesus Hospital in Gadsden and was quickly challenged by the head nun.
Sister James Cecilia asked him why he wanted to be an x-ray technician. Kerry answered that it would be a good job and a good income for his family. The sister didn't like his response. “And you don't care about the patients do you?" she asked.
Kerry said he quickly assured her that caring for patients was as important to him as the income. He came to Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center 49 years ago after he completed school.
“I was raised close to this place," Kerry said. “I was able to watch my kids grow up in church and school here. In past years people didn't job-hop like they do now. With longer tenure, you get closer to people you are around.
“There was one lady I worked with for a long time. We watched our kids be born together. I watched her children grow up. We were here for each other when our parents died. We just grew up together. She was a close friend of mine and still is. She showed me the way by being compassionate to others.
“When I get up in the mornings I don't dread coming to work. If I dreaded coming to work, I wouldn't have worked this long. People come in every day. You are going to take care of somebody you know just about every day because it's a smaller area. I enjoy taking care of people I know."
Konda Dizon, BSN, RN, NICU Clinical Manager
Konda Dizon, Atrium Health Floyd's longest-serving registered nurse, said Floyd feels like an extended part of her family that she can go to whenever she has a need.
“Nurses can go anywhere," Konda said, “but Floyd has always been loyal to me, good to me."
After 48 years of caring for patients, most of those in the area of Women's and Children's nursing, Konda said she is still in awe that she is a witness to the gift of life.
“I see miracles," she said. “It is a blessing every day when I go to work. So many times, there are babies born with conditions when the prognosis is that these kids likely won't walk, talk or hear, but we all know there is one bigger than us, and we see those kids do the things we thought they'd never do. Those are the things that really mean a lot to me. I see the things happen that many people take for granted."
She points to one experience that has left a lasting impression on her.
“I had a family friend. I labored her, took care of her, helped deliver her baby and watched her son grow up," she said. That same young man was fatally injured in an accident and brought to Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center. Konda was working in the emergency department that evening and helped care for him.
“The dad and mom looked at me and said, 'Konda, you were with him when he took his first breath, and you were with him when he took his last. I will always remember that." Stories like that have become a part of Konda's life.
More recently, our own board member Kay Chumbler shared her own Konda story:
When Kay's son, Steve, was born in 1988, he was premature, his lungs were not fully developed, and he aspirated meconium. His pediatrician, Dr. Harlan Starr, told Kay that Steve could have died.
“Of course, there was no NICU, but there was a lovely nurse named Konda Dizon," Kay said. Konda reassured Kay that he was in good hands, and Kay took comfort in her words.
Thirty-four years later, Kay's grandson, Brooks, was born at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center. He also aspirated meconium, and Konda was his nurse. “'Because you are there, I know he will be alright,'" Kay told her. “'You have already done it once for us.'
“The same lady, 34 years later. To know that she was there and what she did for my son, I wasn't worried about Brooks. That woman is amazing."
About Atrium Health Floyd
Since 1942, Floyd, now Atrium Health Floyd, has worked to provide affordable, accessible care in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Today, Atrium Health Floyd is a leading medical provider and economic force. As part of the largest, integrated, nonprofit health system in the southeast, it is also able to tap into some of the nation's leading medical experts and specialists with Atrium Health, allowing it to provide the best care close to home – including advanced innovations in virtual medicine and care. At the hub of these services is Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, a 304-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center. Atrium Health Floyd employs more than 3,400 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at three hospitals: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia, as well as Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health, a freestanding 53-bed behavioral health facility, also in Rome; and a primary care and urgent care network with locations throughout the service area of northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.