At North Mississippi Health Services, compassionate care is more than a promise — it’s a lived experience shared by both our patients and team members.

Many of our teammates have personally received care at NMHS facilities, giving them a unique perspective that deepens their empathy and strengthens the connections they build with patients.

One such teammate is Jala Marchbanks, assistant manager at the Women’s Center at NMMC Gilmore-Amory. She began her journey in the labor and delivery unit in 2016, supporting new mothers for eight years before stepping into her current leadership role.

What she didn’t expect was that just five years into her career, she would become a patient herself — experiencing firsthand the care she had long helped deliver.

“Patient experience,” Jala says, “means that I’m going to treat my patients the way I want to be treated. I want to treat them like they’re family.”

In 2023, Jala gave birth to her son at NMMC Gilmore-Amory. Thanks to her deep trust in her team, she knew she would be cared for with the same compassion she offers others.

“I remember after I got my induction and I was getting ready to deliver, there were some things that came up that were scary, just like it is for a lot of women,” she recalls. “I remember looking at my nurse and she just shook her head at me and I knew that I was going to be okay.”

At NMHS, we believe health care is about more than treating illness—it’s about making sure every patient feels heard, valued and respected.

“I go into every patient’s room and I try to be over the top because this is one of the happiest days they’re going to have,” Jala says. “I hope everything goes as planned… It doesn’t always happen that way, but I just try to treat them the way I would want myself or anybody else that I love to be treated.”

To our patients and community members: thank you for trusting us with your care. You Are Our True North.