By Mickey Peace
Enterprise publisher

    She devoted her career to promoting good health among Evans County residents, first as a nurse at Evans Memorial Hospital followed by more than 30 years with the Evans County Health Department. Monday morning – with a standing room crowd in the lobby of the Health Department – family, friends, and colleagues gathered for a ceremony in memory of Jan Massey.

      The late Nurse Manager, who began work with the Health department in early 1977, died suddenly on January 24. Cindi Hart, Southeast Health District Nursing Coordinator, noted that during Mrs. Massey’s 34 years with the local health department, she was on the forefront of many emerging public health concerns. The transmission of HIV, which first became a national and global health issue in the early 1980s, was one of the health worker’s missions in the area of public awareness.

    In the 1990s, added Hart, Mrs. Massey devoted much of her time to addressing the dangers of tobacco use and the prevention of injuries and deaths that occur in automobiles, as a result of failing to use seatbelts and child safety seats. “She worked so hard with the  (Evans County) Health Collaborative that she helped start here in Evans County,” said Hart. “Jan was recognized statewide for the efforts that she put forth here in her community. She always put her staff and her community first.” Hart also remembered Massey for the personal contributions she made to her life, including the sharing of advice on her own career track and raising small children.

    “She was a great mentor to me,” said Hart. “She helped me prioritize my life and decide what needed to come first. I miss her every day, as I know you all do, and I think about her every day.”
Commission Chairman Richey presented a portrait of Massey to her husband, Wayne, along with a plaque recognizing the nurse’s 34 years with the local health department and her contributions to public health. Wayne Massey, who credited his late wife’s influence in his decision to give up tobacco in 1999, thanked the Commissioners and health officials for honoring her memory.

      “I want to thank everybody for the honor you have bestowed upon Jan,” said Massey, his voice breaking with emotion. “It’s a great (honor) and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.” Deborah Richey, who worked with Massey in the health department for 30 years, also praised her late co-worker for her dedication to public health.

    “She was a wonderful person,” said Richey, “and she loved her community. Everything she did was for her community.”
Richey added that Mrs. Massey was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.       

      “She loved her family, which was her pride and joy,” Richey continued, “and she loved her grandchildren. She was absolutely a wonderful person and I believe that you all know that.”

    Richey presented a ‘memory book’ to Massey’s family filled with photographs and other memorabilia from the years that she worked with Mrs. Massey.        

      During her nursing career, Massey was promoted to Evans County Nurse Manager in 1983. She started a satellite clinic at Claxton Poultry Co. where she worked to reduce and control chronic medical conditions affecting the company’s employees.

    She was a finalist in 2003 for the Nurse of the Year Award, sponsored by the Georgia Nurses Association, and she was a finalist in 2009 for the District Nursing Excellence Award.   

      Monday’s ceremony in celebration of Mrs. Massey’s life was coordinated by the Evans Board of Commissioners, which decided last March to honor the memory of the late public health employee. The commissioners worked with local health department and district health officials to conduct the ceremony and reception that followed.