A typical day for Dr. Jennifer Eubanks might include meeting with cancer patients who are hospitalized, developing a plan for chemotherapy or reviewing scans.

Her work as a hematologist/oncologist requires multitasking as she travels between hospitals and Meridian Oncology Associates, a private practice affiliated with Anderson Regional Health System through its cancer center.

For Eubanks, it is a life, not a job.

“You go home and think about patients…how they’re doing after they receive their treatment or what do they think about the scan that I just told them about or how are they feeling,” Eubanks said.

She is part of a growing community of women in Meridian, dedicated to improving the health and wellness of East Mississippians. 

Eubanks, who has been in Meridian for two years, appreciates the ability to draw from her pharmacy background and explore the new technologies and medications that can change a patient’s outcome.

“I enjoy the academic pursuit, the constant studying and learning about the new information that comes out and then also the patient care,” she said.

One patient’s treatment plan may require the involvement of many different doctors.

“We like to challenge each other and learn and stay abreast of our fields, but what we do requires diagnosticians like gastroenterologists and interventional radiologists…it requires treatment doctors,” Eubanks said. “It’s nice to come together with a plan of care.”

There are joyful days with happy tears, like when a patient gets to celebrate the end of treatment.

There are also heartbreaking days.

“You just take some solace in knowing that you helped them walk through that and provided them with as much care and with as much graciousness as you could for a disease that you cannot otherwise control,” Eubanks said.

It is a privilege, she said, to build the doctor-patient relationship and help the vulnerable.

Eubanks, the only female oncologist in her clinic, advises others entering the field of medicine to do so wholeheartedly.

“I think you have to have a certain amount of grit and you have to be able to work hard and really want to do it, so it’s something that whenever you start on day one, you have to work hard to see it through.”

Protecting the heart 

Dr. Jennifer Rodriguez, the only female interventional cardiologist in her group at the Cardiovascular Institute of the South, has spent more than a decade in Meridian.

Like Eubanks, her work is split between the clinic, where she treats patients with heart disease, and the hospital, where some may be in active heart failure.

Rodriguez participates in an annual event at the MSU Riley Center, “Go Red for Women,” where a panel of physicians fields questions from the audience.

“There used to be this notion, I think, that it was a man’s disease,” Rodriguez said. “You are eight times more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer.”

Rodriguez said she sees 30 patients a day and considers herself fortunate to coach them to their best health.

“I think what’s rewarding is, I think when you can make people believe in themselves and that they’re capable of caring for themselves or they’re capable of mastering their health,” she said. 

Rodriguez, who grew up in Houston, values the sense of community she’s found in Meridian.

“I feel like a lot of my patients, that if I ever needed them, they’d be there for me. That’s the nice thing about being in a small town. Everybody’s a VIP.”

Her advice to people just starting out in medicine: keep an open mind.

Rodriguez never planned on practicing interventional cardiology.

“Do what you love because you spend so many hours doing it. Do something that’s worth getting out of bed for,” she said.

As more women find their place in specialties like hers, the years-long journey will become smoother for others, Rodriguez said. 

“I think we’re going to start to see those numbers trickle their way up as we kind of map out ways to make it work a little better.”

Changing the stigma

Leigh Ann Posey brings nearly 30 years of nursing experience to Alliance Health Center, where she works as the chief nursing officer. 

The inpatient acute psychiatric behavioral health hospital has 154 beds and a 60-bed transitional residential area for adolescents, Posey said.

Staff may see 25 admissions on any given day for patients with a range of mental health conditions. 

Posey is responsible for patient safety, maintaining adequate staffing, policies and procedures.

In December, Alliance started a new transitional unit for patients with both a psychiatric diagnosis and a substance abuse issue. 

“We get a lot of patients that are just not quite ready to be on their own in an outpatient setting,” Posey said. “We’re very proud of it. It’s been pretty successful so far.”

There is still a stigma associated with the treatment of mental health, Posey said. 

She’s been working to change that. 

“That’s why we’re challenged every day when we employ people .. .to educate them, train them, give them the resources to learn about mental illness,” Posey said. “When you go to nursing school, mental illness is not something that’s focused on. It’s a small snippet of your nurse’s training.” 

She wants the public to know that mental health professionals work to provide the best treatment for their patients. 

“Mental health facilities, whether it’s an inpatient hospital, a privately-run one, a state-run one, whether it’s your local mental health centers, we care about the patients … If somebody comes in and they don’t have clothes, we’ll go buy them an outfit,” Posey said. “They’re not being thrown away or mistreated.”

Posey believes there should be a greater focus on mental health in Mississippi, including resources for aging psychiatric patients. 

“I think that we have a huge need for a psychiatric nursing home,” she said.  

Alliance is continuing to work on new programs for the community and hopes to provide more adult beds in the future, Posey said. 

A lifelong career 

Susan Stegall moved to Meridian in 1968.

“When I came here, I was very young. I left my family, so this is my family,” she said, from the office where she serves as vice president of Rush Medical Group. 

Nearly 52 years later, you might call Stegall the matriarch of that family. 

She started out as one of the first Medicare billers with three people in her department. 

“Everything was manual. We typed all of our claims,” Stegall said. 

There were six physicians at Rush then – all of them male, she said. 

Stegall never thought it would become a lifelong career. 

Now, she oversees about 150 people and is responsible for day-to-day operations, personnel, hiring, staffing and nursing. 

“I feel very honored and blessed,” Stegall said. “We have grown tremendously.”

Paper systems became electronic and this year, Rush is set to launch a new software in partnership with Ochsner Health System.

“We’re about to embark on EPIC, which is going to be, by far, the biggest step that we’ve ever taken,” Stegall said. 

The software includes an online portal that will allow patients to look up test results, make appointments, and message doctors online.

Rush has added new doctors and services and Meridian’s medical community has continued to grow. 

“The concept is still taking care of patients. That’s what’s it’s always been,” Stegall said. “The caring, the nurturing, just the communication. I tell everybody, that’s why we’re here, to take care of the patients, get them in to see the doctor, make sure they’re cared for.”

Women are slowly making strides in what has been a male-dominated field, Stegall said. 

“There are opportunities, but there has to be that want to and that fight to hang in there and make it.”