Kelly Green
Nurse finds second home at hospital
Kelly Green was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas, and later relocated to Cabot where she graduated from Cabot High School. From there, she attended the University of Central Arkansas and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Green is married and has four children ranging in age from 10 to 19.
Her hobbies and activities include anything that her children are participating in.
“Wherever or whatever they do,” she said, “I am there to support them. And with four children, my plate is always full!”
As a child, Green knew she would do something in the medical field.
“I always loved being able to help and take care of others,” she said. Originally, she set out to go to medical school, but later decided that nursing was the better fit.
She began her nursing career at Baptist Health Medical Center- Hot Spring County in January of 2002 when it was Hot Spring County Medical Center.
“I fell in love with this hospital and its people and have never left,” she said. “I am going on my 20th year here. I have been through many changes within this facility— the biggest being the change from Hot Spring County Medical Center to Baptist Health Medical CenterHot Spring County.”
Green has worked in just about every nursing unit and in various roles.
She is currently the nurse manager for the inpatient mental health unit. “I have been in this role for more than 10 years. It is my second home and my second family.”
Green said that COVID- 19 has changed the mental health unit in a few ways, but has not had as much impact on the unit as it has on others within the hospital. “We are a communal environment, so we have had to make adjustments to admission practices to ensure that we are doing what we can to keep our patients at a lower risk of infection,” she said.
COVID- 19 has also changed the visitation practices at the unit. Currently they do not allow visitors in order to protect their patients from outside infection. “Our biggest challenge with COVID- 19 has been ensuring we have the staffing necessary to care for the patients,” she said. “One big positive change for our unit is that we are now able to utilize telemedicine capabilities to provide continuous care during times when faceto- face meeting is not optimal.”
Green added that there is nothing more fulfilling than helping those who are often overlooked and under appreciated or just in a place in their life where they just need support. “The stigma surrounding mental health is real. People are often afraid, judgmental or just uneducated,” she said. “Every person has a story and regardless of their situation or diagnosis, we are here to help them and Baptist Health allows us the opportunity to do so in an even larger way, by utilizing faith and Christian compassion with our patients.”