Tennessee reporter tracked months of COVID-19 deaths. Then counted her grandmother among them Micaela A Watts, Memphis Commercial Appeal
These vaccine fairies are helping people in need get their COVID-19 shots
Replay Video
MEMPHIS, Tenn.
This is a reporter’s notebook column by breaking news reporter Micaela Watts, who has spent the past year covering the COVID-19 pandemic in Memphis from her home office until a phone call sent her into one of the area COVID-19 wards.
The nurse began preparing me as we wound our way through the labyrinth of the still-new Shorb Tower at Methodist University hospital.
I had been told one family member could visit a day, for one hour a day while she was in palliative care. But her oxygen was nose-diving , quickly. The staff had alerted my father, who called me and said, “You should be the one to go.”
I asked the nurse leading me, Brett, a young man with a wife and a child at home, “Have you been in the COVID unit for the entirety of the pandemic?”
Yes, he said. He had worked in COVID-19 units within the region’s two largest hospital systems, Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare and Baptist Memorial Health Care. He had managed to avoid contracting the virus in this time. It had been a long year of worrying he would infect his family.
The doors of the COVID-19 unit on the sixth floor resembled a commercial walk-in fridge. Heavy, opaque, no windows. To the side of the doors, bins stacked into columns were brimming with personal protective equipment. The excess was oddly comforting.
Tucker (pictured) serves as president and CEO of Roundtable member Launch Tennessee.
Tuckerâs election fills the unexpired portion of the 2020-21 secretary term vacated by Mary Beth Hudson, a former vice president of Charleston, Tennessee-based Wacker Polysilicon North America. Wacker remains a Roundtable member company.
âUnder Vanâs leadership, Tennesseeâs entrepreneurial sector is rapidly emerging as one of the most dynamic and innovative segments of our stateâs business community,â Matt Kisber, chairman of the Roundtable board and co-founder of Silicon Ranch Corporation.
Prior to joining Launch Tennessee, Tucker cofounded Nashville-based Avenue Bank and served as a co-founder of the Nashville Fashion Alliance. She earned her MBA degree from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.
Diana Smithson of Arvest Bank in Little Rock
Diana Smithson has been hired as senior vice president and senior private banker at Arvest Bank in Little Rock. She has 30 years of experience in the banking industry.
Smithson will be responsible for managing relationships with private banking clients and providing them financial solutions.
David Jernigan of First Service Bank in Greenbrier
David Jernigan has been hired as loan assistant/small-business and consumer loan officer for First Service Bank in Greenbrier.
Jernigan has spent 35 years in the banking industry.
Murray Benton Sr. and Rhodes Thompson have been elected to the board of directors of Partners Bank in Helena-West Helena.
The design team behind the park gave an update this week highlighting several new features, including a water feature, hammocks and other additional seating areas along with two pavilions that will have concession stands. The team also talked about the children s play areas, which will include massive play structures shaped like river otters.
The update followed an announcement that the park had received $3.25 million in donations from AutoZone, First Horizon Foundation, Baptist Memorial Health Care, Campbell Clinic and Regional One Health, bringing the project to 80% of its funding goal.
Some of the park’s key features have been named after the big-ticket donors.