PONTOTOC, Miss. (WTVA)-Gwen Fleming first started at Sunshine Health Care in Pontotoc when she was 16 years old, and now 50 years later she says she has seen a lot of changes.
"Back in the 60's we didn't have book keeping work to do, but now that we do it is so much different," says Fleming. "We didn't have lifts do lift the patients, and now that we have lifts it changes a lot. I had to go out and help with the corn in the garden."
She says she never expected to stay at Sunshine Health for 50 years, but once she became a nurse there was no looking back.
" I have always wanted to be a nurse, and to help take care of people," says Fleming. "That is something [I'm proud] to have done, and that is why I have stayed in it for so long."
Fleming says the best part of her job is being able to make a difference in the resident's lives.
"Some of them don't have people to come see them and fellowship with them," says Fleming. "So we just go around and talk to them and try to meet their needs."
Sarah Jordan is one of those residents, and Mrs. Jordan has been a resident at Sunshine since the day Fleming started. Mrs. Jordan says she got to watch Fleming grow up, and that they have had a friendship since the first time they met.
"When she first came I liked her, when she first came," says Jordan. "I can't get away from her. She has been a wonderful helper."
