If you have had the experience of having to visit the emergency room at D.W. McMillan Hospital, you will most probably remember Regina Watson, the ER manager of nurses.
Watson has held this position since 1998. It is her job to supervise the nurses working in the ER at D.W. McMillan Hospital but she is so much more.
Watson is known for her compassion for those who are brought into the hospital to be treated. Most of them will heal from their illnesses or injuries, but for the families of those who do not survive, she is there to comfort and give them hope.
Watson was born and raised in Brewton. She attended the city school system and graduated from T.R. Miller High School in 1975.
“I never had the idea of going into nursing,” she said. “I got a job at Dairy Queen right after I graduated. I saw the nursing students come in and they looked so professional. It made me want to join them.”
Watson went on to earn her associate’s degree from Jefferson Davis Junior College and a bachelor’s degree from Auburn University-Montgomery in 2005.
“I have come from being a nurse’s aid to LPN to RN, all here at D.W. McMillan,” Watson said. “I still like to help out when I can and I still love it.”
Watson doesn’t spend all of her time at the hospital. She is very active in her church, Second Saint Siloam Baptist Church. She has even become a minister under the guidance of the Rev. Willie J. Blue.
“Going to work for God is very important to me,” she said. “I am also on the Brewton City School Board and work at Westgate Village sometimes. I am still planning to get my master’s degree. Then I will be able to do whatever I want to do. Right now I love what I am doing and I love to mentor the younger nurses.”
Watson lives with her husband, Joe, who serves on the city council and their children. The couple was married in 2000 after he proposed at the Bluebery Drop.