07/23/2025
On July 22, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson, 2nd shift nursing supervisor at White Oak Columbia turned 81 years young. The staff surprised her with an awesome gift bought with money donated by so many, a meal of her favorites, a cake to share with her "babies" (staff, if you are on her good side) and a special gift from Dr. Clarke, our medical director, in appreciation for her amazing service and dedication.
However, this is only part of this story. The backstory is a bit more poignant. A prior long term care nurse of the year for SCHCA, Mrs. Wilson retired from White Oak after many, many years of service in 2019. When White Oak of Columbia started feeling the impacts of Covid in 2020, Mrs. Wilson heard from friends about nurses walking away in fear and the difficulty in finding nurses to take care of our wonderful residents. She left retirement (supposedly temporarily) to come help and worked unending shifts moving patients, taking direct care of positive patients, and training new hires to be true, "classic" nurses.
We at White Oak of Columbia, affectionately call her Mother Wilson. She is everything a Mother is...nurturing, protective, caring, teaching, and swift to correct you if you are wrong...and we absolutely adore her!
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Wilson! We are so thankful you are ours!
