Greta Morrison
Greta Morrison is assistant vice president, administrator and chief nursing officer at Russell County Hospital. She knew as a youngster she wanted to become a nurse, and it came from a very personal experience.
“While I was in elementary school, I helped provide care to my grandfather before he passed away. I was taught how to give him his insulin shots and take his pulse and blood pressure,” Greta said. “He was my role model growing up. He passed away while I was in the fifth grade. I knew then that I wanted to be a nurse and help people. All my career days in school were focused on healthcare. I could not imagine being anything other than a nurse. I feel this is the path I was led to follow.”
A nurse for 21 years with a background in emergency medicine, Greta began as a charge nurse at Russell County Hospital in 2001 and worked her way into management after completing her BSN, MSN and MBA degrees. She still loves to work the front lines and leads by example. She became one of Ballad Health’s first SANE-A certified nurses and is a pediatric trained forensic nurse examiner. (SANE is Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.)
“I love what I do, our team members and my community,” she said. “I truly want to make a difference. I feel I have an opportunity to make a difference in my community.”
In addition to volunteering as an emergency medical technician (EMT) in Russell County, she also coaches softball for her daughter’s 14-under travel team. She and her husband have twin teenage daughters and run a farm where they raise cattle, horses and dogs.
Regina Day
Regina Day, administrator for Hawkins County Memorial Hospital and Hancock County Hospital, didn’t necessarily feel a calling to work in healthcare, but the very first day she started on that career, she knew she’d found a home – on March 19, 2002.
“That day was important to me (1) because it’s my daughter’s birthday, but (2), I distinctly remember the first time I heard a Code Blue paged overhead,” she said. “When the code was paged, I noticed my boss (who was a woman) and my co-workers stopped everything they were doing to say a silent prayer for that patient! That is a practice I continue to this day! That was also the day I learned that I (we) are here to serve and care for our patients.
“And throughout my career, I have been blessed to work for and with many great female leaders and mentors, starting with my mom!”
Regina prides herself in being a servant leader to the hospitals’ team members and physicians and is passionate about helping them provide the best possible care for patients, their families and the community.
She is a member for the Rural Health Association of Tennessee and Rotary Club of Rogersville and serves as a board member of the Hawkins County United Way. She and her husband, Stephen, have a daughter, son and daughter-in-law, along with two handsome grandsons. Outside of work, it’s “lake time” for Regina and her family.
Tammy Albright
Helping people and interacting with them comes naturally to Tammy Albright, Ballad Health’s vice president and CEO of Behavioral Health Services. In high school, she had plans to become a pharmacist, but while working as a pharmacy tech, she noticed the pharmacists in those days didn’t spend much time face-to-face with their patients. So Tammy switched to a career in nursing. She further developed those “helping” skills while working as a patient transporter at Johnson City Medical Center as she put herself through nursing school at East Tennessee State University.
“I realized I needed to be with people and be able to hold their hand and connect with them,” she said. “As a transporter, I learned a lot about how to interact with people, comfort them and support them. I loved it, and I think doing that job has benefited me the rest of my career.”
She worked as an ICU nurse, specializing in cardiac care, and held jobs in Knoxville, Nashville and Portland, Oregon, before returning to Greeneville where, after serving in several administrative roles, she was named chief nursing officer at Takoma Regional Hospital. After five years in that role, she was named CEO of Takoma Regional and later as CEO of the Greeneville market, and late last year she became the leader of Ballad Health’s behavioral health services.
“I really didn’t have any aspiration to become a CEO,” she said. “I really feel like God has put people in my path who have led me to opportunities to serve and to learn and grow with each role.”
Her current role involves pulling all of the system’s behavioral health services together to make sure the care is accessible, coordinated and high-quality, with a focus on reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues.
Outside of work, Tammy is an avid sports fan with two very active, college-age kids. She stays involved with her church and serves on the board of United Way of Greene County and on the Greene County Partnership executive board.
