| Newsmakers |
Aug. 1—Eddie McNeal, CFP, CRPC, CKA, a Private Wealth Advisor with Wellspire Financial Group, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services LLC in Starkville, has qualified for the company's Circle of Success annual recognition program and will be honored for this achievement.
To earn this achievement, McNeal established himself as one of the company's top advisers. Only a select number of high-performing advisors earn this distinction.
He has 32 years of experience with Ameriprise Financial.
Alanesha Pugh has been selected by her peers as Baldwyn Nursing Facility's most recent Employee of the Month.
Pugh, who works in a lead role in Food and Nutrition Services, joined the staff in 2020. She previously attended Itawamba Community College. .
In Pugh's nomination, co-workers wrote that she has grown tremendously in her role during her short tenure. "She consistently covers open shifts and checks in to help on her days off. She stayed the whole week of the ice storm on site to be available if needed," they wrote. "She is a hard worker who steps up when the going gets tough, going above and beyond to make Food and Nutrition Services run smoothly. She is a very kind, considerate and caring person to her team members."
North Mississippi Medical Center recently graduated three pharmacists from its Pharmacy Residency Program.
Accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in July 1994, the NMMC residency program now boasts 66 residency graduates. The 12-month post-graduate program offers a broad range of elective rotations and additional learning experiences. Recent graduates are:
Lauryn Easley, Pharm.D., who has accepted a position with NMMC's Pharmacy Department in Tupelo. Originally from Laurel, she completed her pre-pharmacy education at Jones Community College and the University of Mississippi. She received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Mississippi in 2020.
Brett Lambert, Pharm.D., who is pursuing an ambulatory care residency at AdventHealth in East Orlando, Florida. He attended the University of Louisiana Monroe for his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in pharmacy. He is a native of Slidell, Louisiana.
Grace Orman, Pharm.D., who has accepted a position with NMMC's Pharmacy Department in Tupelo. An Oxford native, she completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Mississippi and her Doctorate of Pharmacy at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy in 2020.
North Mississippi Medical Center has presented its most recent DAISY Award to registered nurse Jessica Koon of the Critical Care Unit.
Koon was nominated by the wife of a patient who was admitted to the Critical Care Unit from the Emergency Department. "I was unaware of any of this. Once I got to the floor, Jessica was so calming and reassuring, even though things didn't look good," she wrote. "She got the chaplain to come on more than one occasion. Eleven days later when my husband woke up and was moved, she still remembered my name and his when she saw me in the hall and after her shift ended. This meant so much to know how much she cared."
A Saltillo resident, Koon earned her associate and bachelor's degree in nursing from Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. She joined the NMMC staff in 2015 as a member of the Nursing Resource Pool. She also worked in Cancer Care and as a travel nurse before transferring to the Critical Care Unit in 2019.
