MERCER MEDICAL STUDENTS VISIT

First year students at Mercer Medical School in Macon visited Jasper County Tuesday to learn a little about small town living and especially small-town medical care. The students visited Jasper Memorial Hospital where they met Dr. Nicole Ross and others, and had a brief tour of the community. They had lunch in the Visitors’ Center, hosted by the Monticello-Jasper County Chamber of Commerce, and they were welcomed by many local community leaders who introduced themselves to the students and told them a little about the benefits of small-town living and working. Dr. Ross talked to the students about having balance in their lives. She said she previously was a partner in a hospitalist firm and found herself leaving home at 6 a.m., and sometimes not returning until 11 p.m. She said she never saw her three children. Now she has a little more relaxed work schedule, and said she has experienced real love, care and concern at Jasper Memorial. She told the students there were financial perks to serving a rural, underserved community, and talked about her involved relationship with patients.

Several speakers spoke of community and the feeling of home. Some spoke of the impact the doctors could have in a rural setting as well as the community’s impact on them. Afterwards the students and community members gathered for a photo. Those present included students Sarah Byrd, Monique Singhal, Hannah Batten, Larry Nichols, Julia Chang, Vivian Vu, Sophia Rashid, Arshiya Mujaway, Michael Land, and with them Dr. Larry Nichols and Lisa Killingsworth. Community members included Dr. Ross, Tamala Alexander, Dana and David Leach, Walker Jordan, Christy McMillan, Diane and Skip Davis, Katie Cannon, Pam Mayer, David Dyer, Laura Hammonds, Russell Watts, Commissioners Carl Pennamon and Gene Trammell, Sheriff Donnie Pope, Kelly Raney and Kim McMichael.