VALDOSTA — Shirley J. Garland was recently appointed to the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County.

She replaced Dr. Mary Margaret Richardson after nearly 15 years of service on the board. 

Garland was appointed by Lowndes County Commission to sit on the authority board and has worked at South Georgia Medical Center for 40 years as a registered nurse. 

She had her first board meeting Wednesday when her family and friends joined her to celebrate.

“It is an honor being appointed to this position,” Garland said. “I hope to work for all of the community and build stronger relationships with the community.”

Right now, the first challenge for the board is to select a new chief executive officer, she said; the last CEO departed last year. Once that task is complete, she said the board’s main goal should be to support the CEO and his or her vision for the hospital.

“That is what the board is supposed to do, in my understanding, is to support the leadership,” Garland said. “That’s what I would like to be a part of.”

She said the hospital authority board should have no role in the day-to-day operations of the hospital.

The operations at SGMC are well known to Garland who has nursing degrees from Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and Valdosta State University.

She has held every position at the hospital from a staff nurse to an associate nurse administrator for operations when she retired in 2014.

Born and raised in southeast Georgia, she spent a lot of her time around farms, taking care of people and animals. 

She has always had an interest in caring for people, so it was only natural that she would go into the medical field as soon as she could. She began working at SGMC when she was 19 years old.

“SGMC helped me go to school,” Garland said. “I’ve always been an advocate for professionalism and taking care of patients and their families.”

When she retired, Garland remained active in the community, participating in many city and county groups and classes. She was so active that people were always trying to get her to join a committee. 

Eventually, she decided to accept the nomination to the hospital authority board because she believed in the mission of bringing better health care to South Georgia. Health-care access in Lowndes and the surrounding areas concerned her, and she felt the need to get more involved, she said.

“This interests me,” Garland said. “What I would like to see us do is move forward in health care. There’s a lot of change going on, and I would like to be a part of that change.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256