Teammate Caregivers Ensure Patient’s Return Home is a Success
Harbin Clinic technician needs help after surgeries
ROME, Ga., July 31, 2025 – Molly Horton has had her share of setbacks over the past several months, but she’s not the kind of person to focus on her troubles.
The Harbin Clinic X-ray and ultrasound technician had both her knees replaced in December 2024. She had post-surgery complications resulting in a torn left patella tendon and a torn right quadricep, both of which required surgery, and none of these were on her get-‘er-done list for 2025.
Horton’s three surgeries resulted in casts for both her legs and 16 weeks in the hospital, but she doesn’t go on about her medical history. She’d rather brag about her Atrium Health Floyd care team and the extraordinary efforts some of her nurses and caregivers have made on her behalf.
After being hospitalized at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center, Horton was transferred to Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center, to continue her healing. She likes to do things for herself whenever possible, and in the days following her surgery, she required the use of a trapeze to pull herself up in bed.
Although the trapeze she had used at Floyd Medical Center had traveled with her, she didn’t have immediate use of the adaptive contraption because it had not been installed over her bed.
When Leisa McCright, who had been one of Horton’s regular nurses at Floyd Medical Center, learned her former patient didn’t have her trapeze installed, she took action. The two had become mutual admirers while Horton was in the hospital, and McCright wanted to help her new friend. She drove to the Centre hospital and assembled the trapeze for her former patient. Molly would have some independence.
But that wasn’t the only visit from McCright, who lives in Cherokee County. Remembering how Horton enjoyed yogurt, the nurse often stopped by the hospital, most often bringing a yogurt treat to cheer up her new friend.
But the kindnesses Horton received didn’t stop with McCright.
When Elliott Gault, who also had worked with Horton’s care team in preparation for her homecoming, learned Horton would be discharged, he joined with fellow physician liaison Kenneth Tillery, and built a ramp to give her access to her home.
For Gault, who had never built a ramp before, the construction work was an extension of his work as a nurse and liaison – doing what is necessary for their patient.
“Molly is single. She has friends, but of course, they have families and jobs, so she didn’t want to burden anybody,” Gault said. “We want to support our patients’ independence as much as we can. We try to meet their discharge needs and home care needs. We just wanted her to be home and to be safe at home.”
It’s not lost on this group of caregivers that, as a result of the combination of Harbin Clinic with Atrium Health Floyd, Horton is a patient and a teammate. While they, no doubt, would have performed these kind acts regardless, knowing they are on the same team certainly adds to the gratefulness.
“I will be forever grateful for how kind and helpful everyone was on my journey,” Horton said. “From Leisa going out of her way to set up equipment for me to Elliott and Kenneth building a ramp for me on their own time, my teammate caregivers at Floyd and Cherokee were so good to me.”
About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Healthand Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd strategically combined with Harbin Clinic in 2024 and employs more than 5,200 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at four facilities: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 361-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health,also in Rome. Together, Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic provide primary care, specialty care and urgent care throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd also operates a stand-alone emergency department in Chattooga County, the first such facility to be built from the ground-up in Georgia.
About Advocate Health
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Advocate Health is nationally recognized for its expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs more than 160,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.
