MRC News

FLOWOOD, Miss.—When Robby Scucchi recently became Mississippi’s first volunteer director to be certified by the Southeastern Directors of Volunteer Services in Healthcare Organizations, the honor didn’t surprise co-workers at Methodist Specialty Care Center in Flowood.

The Jackson resident has a reputation for being innovative, a trait that has enhanced opportunities for residents of the long-term care facility for the severely disabled.

JACKSON, Miss.—The Wilson Research Foundation in Jackson has donated $457,866 to advance neuroscience research at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson.

“As we look to the future, we’re committed to the hospital’s vision for rehabilitation and research,” said Ginny Mounger of Jackson, board chairman of the Wilson Research Foundation and daughter of the late Earl R. Wilson, one of Methodist Rehab’s founders. “The greatness of a hospital should be reflected through the value and quality of its research.”

JACKSON, Miss.—“A cascade of little miracles.”

That’s how Debbie Pitzer of D’Iberville describes the series of events that helped her husband Steve survive a massive heart attack on a Gulf Shores golf course.

She knows so many things could have gone dead wrong.

The electrical engineer could have suffered the attack while alone in his hotel room. Instead, he was in a crowd of co-workers from Coast Electric Power Association. The group included company safety director Clement Ladner, whose CPR skills kept Steve alive until an ambulance arrived.

JACKSON, Miss.—During her fight to survive a virulent form of breast cancer, Toni Gary endured high-dose chemotherapy, rounds of radiation and a double mastectomy.

It saved her life, but the price was unrelenting back pain.

“It felt like someone was twisting a big two-by-four under my shoulder blade,” said Gary, a psychology instructor at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead. “It was so bad last June that I was almost suicidal.”