Ann Martin Marks Half a Century at Hospital
CENTRE, Ala., June 7, 2023 – Few people can claim they worked in any one place for half a century, but Ann Martin has accomplished just that at Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center.
Martin, a financial counselor, was honored by her teammates on Tuesday at the hospital, where she began working six days after graduating from vocational school when she was 18 years old.
Yolanda Miller, director of patient access, remembers first meeting Martin when Floyd began managing the hospital in 2018.
“I thought, if everybody here is like her, we got this in the bag," Miller said. “She knew everybody, not just the people at the hospital. She is just a very kind, very loving individual."
Martin refers to herself as a jack of all trades, but helping patients navigate the financial side of health care has been her biggest role.
“I have enjoyed helping the older people more than anything else. It makes you feel good to be able to help them. I try to solve their problems if I can. They're not always happy when they come in, but I have learned that if you just listen to them, you can usually resolve it. I always want them to feel better by the time they leave," she said.
Trudy Williams, pre-service manager at the hospital, was Martin's manager for two years. She wiped away tears as she spoke about working with her.
“She was wonderful. She was always here, and I could always rely on her," Williams said.
Kerry Sayre, a radiologic technologist at Cherokee, is close to reaching his 50-year anniversary at the hospital. He and Martin have been longtime friends.
“When we were first here, I would go visit her just to talk to her," Sayre said, referring to Martin as his work wife. “She is so caring and compassionate. She is a wonderful person."
About 10 years ago, Martin said they started referring to her as “Miss Ann," an address of both familiarity and respect often used in the South.
“I raised a lot of children," she said of some of her fellow teammates. “I'm Dear Abby. Of course, I am older than everybody else now. So, they are like my children. I can just tell them 'Now don't do that.' I raised a lot of them and love a lot of them. A lot of times they didn't want to go to their moms, so they came to me. And I talk to them just like I would to one of mine."
About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd employs more than 3,5 00 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at three hospitals: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 304-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; as well as Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health – a freestanding 53-bed behavioral health facility in Rome – and also primary care and urgent care network locations throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the fifth-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the United States – created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois, Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health serves nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies. It is nationally recognized for its expertise in cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs nearly 150,000 team members across 67 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation's largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides nearly $5 billion in annual community benefits.
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