"How do you feel about the hospital becoming a place of higher education?"
Ginny Lyles: “Perfect utilization of that building.”
Peggie Lawson: “Where better…to teach nurses.”
Sue Livingston: “Glad to see it utilized this way.”
Dr. Earnest Barron
Sue Livingston
Rosa Connolly
Virginia Elliott
Peggie Lawson
Dot Branton
How the hospital got its start.
“It was pretty slow starting a practice, even though I was the only pediatrician this side of Atlanta all the way to Alabama. I remember that first year: I took in $2,000; only $600 the first six months. Our prices weren’t but a dollar for an office visit and maybe $3 for a home visit. I took out tonsils in the office; Dr. Elwood Sneed gave the anesthetic for me until Dr. Nat Glover came in 1949. In the 30’s and early 40’s, people didn’t have much money, and I did many of these tonsillectomies for $25 and $35. We would let them recover in the office during the day and they would go home at night. We never had any great trouble doing it like this.” - Dr. Howard Glover
“The lab was very small, and there were only one or two technicians. Nothing was automated; everything was done by hand and pipette. You had to examine your own blood counts and cultures. There was one x-ray machine and no radiologist. The emergency room had only three beds, and doctors had to see their own patients any time they came in, day or night. That meant we were on constant call…I never had a surgeon refuse to take a patient of mine or saw the hospital turn anyone away, whether they had money or not.” - Dr. Nat Glover
Dr. Earnest Barron
"What was the hospital like?"
Sue Livingston
Rosa Connolly
Job Descriptions
Rosa Connolly
Joann Mitchell
Dot Branton
"What were the highlights of your job?"
Rosa Connolly
Sue Livingston
Virginia Elliott
The nurses home
Dr. Earnest Barron
Rosa Connolly
Virginia Elliott
Food Service
“Everything was so personal then. In the dining room where the nurses ate, there were tablecloths on the tables and everyone had their own personal napkin rings. You could go down to the kitchen, and they would be snapping beans or shucking corn and making churn ice cream…People in the community would come from town at night, almost like a social gathering, and make candy in the kitchen downstairs.” - Hattie Alexander
Dr. Earnest Barron
Joann Mitchell
Dot Branton
This and that
Rosa Connolly
Had a good time
Joann Mitchell
UWG at Newnan Hospital
before Newnan Center
Virginia Elliott
Fixed own packs and AC unit in
operating room
Dot Branton
The lab
The lab (Branton)
Ms. Martha Smith, RN
"The Lord will provide."
"I always wanted to keep the hospital staffed in such a way that if I had members of my family there, I'd feel free to leave them and know they were in good hands."
Martha Smith, RN, was hired by Newnan Hospital in 1949. She served until her retirement in 1989. She is remembered as a legacy at Newnan Hospital and a reason that Newnan Hospital gained a sterling reputation.
“Just say she was a saint.” - Dr. Earnest Barron
“She really was Newnan Hospital.” - Sue Livingston
“Martha Smith was the person who kept this place going. If she was short of nurses and some had the day off, she could call them and say, ‘I’m short and need help; please come in,’ and they would do it. Or if you called and said 'Miss. Smith, I have a very sick patient, I need a private room'…she would just about always get you that room.” - Dr. James Bryant
“She always tried to honor a nurse’s request for vacation time or the need to be gone on a special occasion. But if she needed you, you could not tell her ‘no.’ You just couldn’t! I don’t know how she did it, but she did. And you just didn’t miss work because of the weather. If we had a snow storm and there were some nurses over in Peachtree City, she would have somebody with a pick-up truck over there to get them and bring them to work. We didn’t miss operating because of the weather…Patient care was her number one priority…She insisted everybody get special AM and PM care. Patients got cleaned up and their backs rubbed. It was just that personal touch she gave to everything.” - Harriett Alexander
“It is rare but it does happen in America that an individual comes to stand for an institution, even though that person is an employee, which makes it even more laudatory. To this day, Martha Smith is cited by patients at the reasons they come to Newnan Hospital. Even though they were sick and in pain when they were here, they retain pleasant memories of the way they were treated when she directed the nursing program. Her reputation is accurate and well-deserved.” - Guy C. Arnall, former President of Newnan Hospital
“So many of native sons have come back to Newnan to practice because Martha Smith, Joe Downs, and his successors have always given Newnan Children jobs at the hospital. They got a taste of work in this field, and this had a significant effect on their deciding to become doctors and return to become part of the medical community.” - Susie Thomasson Mann
Dr. Earnest Barron
Rosa Connolly
Ginny Lyles
Peggy Lawson
Sue Livingston
Joann Mitchell
Virginia Elliott
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All photos courtesy of Piedmont Newnan Archives, Newnan, Georgia,
except for the photo of Dr. Earnest Barron which is courtesy of Coweta Samaritan Clinic.