Ms. Surratt decided at age 8, after her mother’s death, that she would work to become a nurse. She began work at St. Mary Hospital in Quincy in 1978 and began her career in intensive care unit nursing after getting her bachelor’s in nursing in 1991, according to a May 29 hospital news release.
“People don’t see what is going on inside my head,” she said in the release. “In intensive care, you are always trying to think ahead of what could go wrong. You know what is happening right then. But if you stop there, then you are going to miss something. I have seen a lot of changes in the nursing field. But the basic care and human needs of a patient and family member are unchanged. Those needs are what has kept me at the bedside all these years.”
Ms. Surratt said she plans to remain active in retirement. She will serve at funerals of deceased nurses and advocate for end-of-life care as part of her work through Hope Through Faith Ministries.
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