Polk Medical Center nurse looks back on half a century
Susan Wills recounts changes at hospital
Susan Wills’ calm, reassuring presence is difficult to miss, even if you meet her in the Emergency Room at Polk Medical Center.
Wills has been a licensed practical nurse at Polk for more than 50 years. The last 30 years of her career have been spent in the Emergency Room.
Polk Medical Center is the only place that she has worked fulltime during her career, although she did work part-time shifts at various hospitals over the years, including Floyd Medical Center.
“It has been my sincere pleasure to work with Susan for many years,” said Tifani Kinard, Administrator and Chief Nursing Officer at Polk Medical Center. “She is kind, compassionate and embodies a true nurses’ heart. She is a passionate patient advocate and a highly valued part of the PMC team.”
When Wills began working as a nurse in August 1971 at what was then Polk General Hospital, she made $1.72 an hour.
Growing up, Wills never intended to become a nurse.
“(Being a nurse) was the last thing I ever thought in my life to be because I could not stand the sight of blood,” Wills said. “It made me deathly sick. My mother was a schoolteacher and she always wanted me to do that.”
Wills said that she realized she wanted to be a nurse when her father got sick and was in the hospital at Polk. She applied to the nursing program at Paulding Memorial Nursing School. After taking the one-year, hospitalbased program, Wills graduated with an LPN degree.
Early in her nursing career, Wills said, staff nurses worked in different areas every day. If a nurse was in the emergency department, they were often in there by themselves without a doctor.
Often the doctor would only come in if there was a need for stitches, broken bones or a traumatic injury, Will said. The nurse
would evaluate the patient and call the doctor to explain the assessment.
Babies used to be routinely delivered at Polk. There were no warmers, no isolettes and no medicines that babies should get when they are first born. “We just bathed ‘em. Wrapped ‘em. Put ‘em in a little cradle and put ‘em in the nursery,” Wills shared.
Now babies are delivered at Polk as an emergency only. Babies are given the medications they need before they are sent to Floyd Medical Center. “We even do the footprints here,” Wills said.
Wills felt strongly about learning how every piece of equipment in the ER worked. She would go in on her days off to learn how to
set up devices and turn them on. She could even take the equipment apart, fix it and put it back together.
When asked how she found her calling in the ER, Wills said that she didn’t like it at first because she felt that she didn’t know what to do. Finally, she realized that this is where she was supposed to be. “I worked weekend nights for a long time,” she said. “And the very worst things would walk in that back door. They weren’t brought by EMS. They walked in.”
Today, every patient that comes into an ER facility is seen by a doctor or nurse practitioner, regardless of their financial status. It’s the provider’s decision on what tests to order, how to treat the
patient, and whether the patient goes home or if they are admitted to the hospital.
Wills stated that the most important thing about being a nurse is to always take care of the patient, to be their advocate — to treat the patient and not the machine or the monitor.
“Always look at your patient. Always listen to your patient because they’re going to tell you what’s going on. It’s still true today no matter how many degrees you have or what your level of expertise is,” she said
Wills stated that the nursing profession is “not for the faint of heart. It’s a deep commitment.” She said that she has had a great career and couldn’t imagine doing
anything else.
Ed Malcom, M.D., a Polk Emergency Room physician, described Wills as knowledgeable, kind and caring. “We need a hundred more just like her. It has been a pleasure to work with her all these years,” Dr. Malcom said.
Outside of work, Wills said that she reads a lot. “In the summer, I have a garden, and I can grow a lot of vegetables. I spend time with my family. My life is simple but it’s fulfilling.”
Wills has no current plans to retire. “I’m just waiting on that sign, those instructions that haven’t come yet. I think I’ll know, and I’ll probably be ready like right then. I’m gonna clock out and go home.”