No matter the challenges life brings to humanity (and many it does bring), there are also individuals who step forward to lend a helping hand to those around them. They are often unseen, except by those that their skill and care comforts, but their efforts are essential to rebuilding lives and communities after a disaster.
Below are stories about a few of the individuals operating behind the scenes when the recent tornadoes tore through our area, right in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has affected so many of our nation’s and area’s residents.
Meet SCRMC ICU coordinator Tyler Whittington . . .
Whittington, RN, has been employed at SCRMC since February 2012. He began as a staff nurse on night shift in ICU, then moved to charge nurse, then transitioned to ICU coordinator.
Today, Whittington is the director of ICU, Cardiology, Neurology, and Respiratory Therapy at South Central.
When asked what drives him to be in patient care, he responded, “My personal and family experiences. I was raised in a family that has always been in healthcare, so I always enjoyed it. However, it was not until later in life that I found my drive to provide patient care. Through personal experiences in life I have found out what it is like to be a family member of a critically ill patient. It was through this experience that I discovered the importance of my job. From that day forward I have striven to provide excellent care every day.”
As director of Intensive Care at SCRMC, Tyler is having to make personal sacrifices to keep his family during COVID-19.
“Like everyone else in today’s world, Covid-19 has had its effects on my family and me personally,” said Whittington. “As we began to care for positive Covid-19 patients in the ICU, it has led me to isolate myself from my family in order to mitigate the possibility of them contracting Covid-19 from me if I became ill. However, I must say I feel very safe and protected at work, but it was a risk that was not worth it to me personally.”
Tyler continues to work with administration at SCRMC to provide all necessary resources to staff and patients.
“South Central has provided myself and all staff with the necessary personal protective equipment to protect ourselves during the Covid-19 battle,” said Whittington. “Like any facility in the world, we have faced challenges with personal protective equipment but not once have we not had what we needed to provide safe patient care. This has been a team effort to accomplish this task.”
Tyler has strong feelings about stepping in as a resource and support service for patients during this time.
“With family members not being able to visit our patients, it has presented us with multiple challenges. It has been very difficult to see family members and patients be separated. In response to this difficult situation we have increased our phone updates to hopefully alleviate some of the stress for families. Our hearts go out to the families and patients during this challenging time. We look forward to the return of all our visitors,” Tyler closed.
Meet ComfortCare Nursing Center Director Heather Gilbert . . .
This is Gilbert in her own words regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggles that face nursing homes and assisted living facilities:
“As the crisis continues to unfold, we face challenges on a daily basis. Many staff members have taken on additional roles and tasks in the facility and have worked additional hours to make sure the residents get the best care possible. It is difficult to see how it takes a toll on them. But I believe the hardest thing for all of us in the facility is how the pandemic has affected the residents and their loved ones. The crisis has been hard for all industries, but as caregivers it is especially hard seeing our residents and their families hurting. It is painful to hear from a vulnerable elder that they are aware of the virus situation and are afraid. Or to hear and see how much a daughter or son misses their parent and how worried they are for their health. It takes a person with their heart in the right place to work in the nursing home during this time – they are truly heroes.
“One of our organization’s most valuable assets has been our staff. One person that stands out in everyone’s mind at ComfortCare is Dr. James Beasley. We are so thankful for the extraordinary care and service he has provided to our facility. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been a source of guidance and current information to assist in preparedness and response to this crisis. He visits the facility seven days a week. We have witnessed him performing all tasks no matter how large or small, from assisting the staff to cleaning the facility, to feeding residents, providing them with fluids, or just conversing and providing reassurance when they need it. Words cannot express how grateful we are to have a medical director that demonstrates such excellence in his provision of care. His energy and good humor, and unwavering dedication and commitment, have been an inspiration and motivation for all of us.
“It is encouraging to us that we have gotten so many messages and phone calls from family members letting us know that they trust us and are thankful for the care we are providing. Many have told us how much they appreciate us being a surrogate family for the resident during this time. We feel it is us who should be thankful for the opportunity to provide care, companionship and comfort for this vulnerable population. We continue to be amazed on a daily basis at the resiliency and flexibility of our residents. We are all learning so much about each other and are truly developing deeper relationships through this difficult situation.”
Meet First Baptist Church of Soso Pastor P.J. Weeks . . .
When an F4 tornado ripped through the heart of Soso back in April, Weeks’ sprung into action. Though the tornado – Mississippi’s widest in state history, reaching 2.25 miles in some locations – caused significant structural damage to the church, Weeks focused on his community first.
“We checked on some members of our church that lived directly on 29,” said Weeks. “Then we made our way to our elderly members that lived nearby. Those were our main concern.
“What was incredible was that everyone nearby that had a way to get around came out and were cutting paths on the roads to make sure we and others could get around.”
Nearly half of Weeks’ congregation was affected by the tornado in some way.
Despite damage to the church, Weeks helped in efforts that made First Baptist Church of Soso the central headquarters for relief efforts to not only Soso but the Matthews Community and Moss, also affected by the F4 tornado.
“Rena Register from the Jones County Baptist Association coordinated the relief efforts out of Soso for all over the county,” said Weeks. “That is what made all this work. Starting that Monday morning, we made sure our church members were taken care of with tarps, chainsaws, and all that first. By Tuesday morning, it was overwhelming at the support this community was given.”
Around 100 churches and over 20 businesses came together in the efforts to help not only Soso but other areas that were affected by the tornado.
Meet First Baptist Church of Soso Youth Pastor John Nance . . .
Shortly before the F4 Easter tornado blew through Soso, Nance and his family left their home just down the road from the church and gathered in his office at the church.
“While we are preparing to ride out the storm in our home,” said Nance, “I told my wife that the safest place was probably in my office at the church because of it being a blocked building. So we made our way there.”
Inside his office, Nance watched as debris began to blow around outside his office window.
“Once it started, we could hear the roof leaving and piling up against the building outside,” Nance added. “After 15-20 seconds, it was all over with. It happened that fast.”
Nance’s actions afterward weren’t to begin the cleanup process at his house. Instead, he gathered tools he could find and started to help others in the community.
“We headed south on 29 and started to check on as many members as we could,” said Nance. “From there we expanded our area of help.”
“It was Thursday before we got to his house cleaning up,” added First Baptist Church of Soso Pastor P.J. Weeks.
Nance has a background in construction, which enabled him to help with more than just clearing trees, etc.
“I moved here in June of last year,” explained Nance. “They said I moved from tornado alley in Tippah County. It’s as north as you can get in Mississippi and stay there. I’ve helped in two tornado cleanups, and both have been here in Jones County.”
Meet Dixie Electric Line Foreman Jason Holder . . .
Holder has witnessed his fair share of storm damage over the 23 years he’s worked for Dixie Electric Power Association. Other than the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Holder had not seen anything comparable to the F4 tornado that ripped through Jones County this past Easter.
As with any storm, power company crews are some of the first on the scene to help in the recovery process.
“As soon as the storm hit, we were called to the office to get a game plan together,” said Holder. “We already had several of our service and construction guys out eyeballing the damage and reporting back to us at the office. After that, we started the process of putting things back up.
“We knew we were hit pretty bad and that we’d need additional help. It was like with Katrina; there was so much down. This was as bad as Katrina. Katrina was just more widespread.”
The tornado came through the northwest corner of Dixie Electric’s service area.
“If this came through the middle of our service area,” said Holder. “We’d still be out there today.”
Holder, along with the rest of Dixie Electric’s linemen, worked 16 hour days.
“You want to stay out all day and say ‘we can work one more’ to help those affected out,” said Holder. “But you’ll one more yourself to death. We started each day around 6 a.m. and would get done around eight or nine at night.”
Holder was the first to admit that no one person (lineman, foreman, contractors, etc.) was more important than the other.
“You would just go pick a spot and start,” said Holder. “There was no ‘we need you here and you there.’ No one person was more important than someone else.”
Meet Dixie Electric Distribution Engineer Andrew Jones . . .
Jones has done a little bit of it all as an employee of Dixie Electric.
Before completing his college education at Mississippi State, Jones worked with Dixie Electric as a lineman and later as an assistant distribution engineer. As a distribution engineer, Jones oversees the work of the linemen and contractors from the office.
“When a storm comes through, we have a list of people calling in with outage reports,” said Jones. “Depending on how big the storm is, we separate the calls by the areas (Laurel, Waynesboro and Petal) and try to pinpoint where the outage is based on the calls coming in and our management systems.”
From there Jones directs crews in the field to what he calls “priority outages.”
“We work our way down from there,” added Jones. “We hit the most heavily populated areas, and as we dwindle our way down, we get to the least populated areas.”
During the two-week stretch where four separate tornadoes hit Dixie Electric’s coverage area, Jones worked in the field and at the office.
“This actual event, where we saw four different tornadoes in 11 days, I got to do a little bit of both,” stated Jones. “After the Easter tornado, I worked more in the field than in the office. The tornado in Sharon, I mainly worked in the office and managed the outrages coming in from that.”
Jones has worked at Dixie Electric for nearly eight years now.
“I haven’t seen anything like this since I’ve been at Dixie,” said Jones when asked whether he’s seen the damage to this extent over a matter of weeks. “Everyone that I’ve talked to here says it was like Katrina but not as localized. I’ve had others mention that it reminded them of the tornado that came through Glade in 1987. But for me personally, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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