Dalton Starts Fund to Feed Families at NMMC Rehab Institute

TUPELO, Miss.—Growing up in Endville and Tupelo, Eddie Dalton’s family never let anyone leave hungry. Now Eddie is paying it forward in their memory and in honor of those who cared for his wife, Lisa, when she was a patient at the North Mississippi Medical Center Rehabilitation Institute.

Dalton started Eddie’s Fund at the NMMC Women’s Hospital in 2014 to provide meals for families with babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. After a recent stay at the NMMC Rehabilitation Institute with his wife, he knew he wanted to make a similar impact with those patients, so he created the NMMC Rehab Family Fund.

“Food is a basic need, and it gets expensive eating out or in the hospital food court for several meals a day for weeks at a time,” Dalton said. “Plus, if you are taking care of a loved one in the Rehab Institute, you need to take care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to be there for your family member who needs you.”

“We take care of patients from all over north Mississippi and Alabama, and sometimes even farther away,” said Tobie Gillean, director of the NMMC Rehabilitation Institute. “Driving from so far away to be with a loved one can take its toll, so we are thankful for this new fund and being able to lighten the load a little.”

For the past 17 years Dalton has worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) at NMMC, the last nine years primarily at Women’s Hospital. But Dalton’s career at NMMC started in 1982 when he became a transporter in the Emergency Department shortly after high school graduation.

In 1984 he became an equipment supervisor for NMMC’s dialysis unit, where he worked until 1989. After a one-year hiatus working in Jackson, Dalton returned to NMMC and worked in Biomedical Services for 10 years.  With the assistance of NMMC scholarships, he earned two associate degrees from Itawamba Community College: one in electronics and one in nursing. Afterward he earned his bachelor’s degree in nursing from Mississippi University for Women.

In 2003 he earned his master’s degree in nursing with a focus in anesthesia from the University of Tennessee in Memphis and returned to work at NMMC as a CRNA.

Throughout his career endeavors, Dalton had the support of both his employer and his family. “NMMC was always so good to work with me, whether it was through scholarships or by adjusting my schedule to accommodate school,” he said.

“Going through the Health Care Foundation makes it easier for people to donate, and donations are tax deductible,” he said. “NMMC is really the only place I’ve ever worked, and I wanted to provide a community service that would give back to the hospital because this place has been so good to me.”

For more information about the Rehab Family Fund, call the Health Care Foundation at (662) 377-3613 or 1-800-THE DESK (1-800-843-3375), or email foundation@nmhs.net.