ECHOLS "It's good to be home." Wills Memorial Hospital's new Director of Nursing, Jane Echols, is a hometown Wilkes County nurse who's glad not to be commuting to Augusta every day for the first time in 20 years.

"Coming here is the right decision," she said. "As much as I loved burn care at Doctors Hospital, I really want to keep involved in my community, to make a difference in my hometown hospital. When you work out of town, it's easy to lose touch."

Her Wilkes County roots go deep. Echols is the wife of Glen Echols, and mother of Graham, 13, Jordan, 11, and Jesse, 9. She's the daughter of Buddy and Alice Lindsey, and her in-laws are James and Rebecca Echols of Tignall.

A graduate of Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School, she earned her nursing degree from Augusta College (now Augusta State University.) She went straight to work at Doctors.

Working at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital for the last 19 years, she was most recently in charge of clinical education. "I've also been a staff nurse and charge nurse at the burn center, and I've worked part-time as needed at Wills Memorial's intensive care unit."

But making that two-hour-a-day commute from Tignall to Augusta really cut into time with her family, especially since Glen, a program manager with the Georgia Department of Agriculture, travels all over the state. "It really got old in the last couple of years, and my kids really need me more and more. So my family is very excited that I'm working close to home now, and so am I."

Echols heard through the grapevine that the nursing director job might be opening up, and she contacted WMH administrator Marvin Goldman. "We really hit it off," she said. "Mr. Goldman is a great administrator, and he's built a great team here, a staff that's fantastically loyal to the hospital and the community. The nurses are very loyal and committed to the hospital, committed to providing service to the community."

Her challenge at Wills Memorial, she says, is to learn and grow in the administrative role she now has entered. "I'm good with people, I'm a good patient advocate and clinician. And it's going to be important that I earn the respect of my staff, for them to see that I can and will do everything I expect of them."

The nursing staff has made her feel welcome already. "From what they say, they're excited about having a hometown person in this position finally - it's been a long time since that's been the case - and I believe they're excited to have somebody here who's as loyal to the community and dedicated to the hospital as they are."