By Sarah Jones When I started as a victim advocate with the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence, it never occurred to me that my advocacy would extend to working with abusers. What I quickly came to realize was that promoting victim safety and moving toward our ultimate goals of reducing and eventually ending future violence […]
Red flags. So many red flags. I saw them but chose to ignore them. He studied me like a book and learned my likes, dislikes and traumas. He then used that information to create the person I believed was my soulmate. He was “saving me” from an already bad place and blinding me with his […]
My name is Sharita Cook, and I am the mother of seven beautiful children, which includes five sons and two daughters. I am the eldest daughter of Larry and Janis Burks. My parents were hard workers. There were five of us altogether, two brothers and two sisters. My mother was a chef, and also a […]
By Dr. Olivia Hightower We are making advancements every year in breast cancer treatment. Patients are being cured at a higher rate, and even those whose cancer is detected at later stages are living longer, as chemotherapy options are improving. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, excluding skin cancers. About one […]
Some patients may still fear the dentist’s chair, but according to Dr. Clifford Cook, the old days of painful dentistry are over. “Lasers have created better work and require far less anesthesia — many times none …,” says Cook, a dentist with Broadwater Dental in D’Iberville. “Oral health is important to overall health, and I […]
For Dr. Tamara Harper, the pandemic has highlighted the fragility of life — but also its strength. Harper, a pediatrician affiliated with Singing River, may have to wear masks and protective gear all day, but she and her patients still somehow understand each other. “It’s amazing how babies are so resilient,” she says, “seeming to […]
As an oncologist, Dr. Olivia Hightower is used to nervous patients. But if a difficult diagnosis puts her in someone’s life, she does everything possible to make the experience a positive one. “I encourage patients that knowledge is power,” says the doctor, who practices at Gulfport Memorial Hospital, “and there is so much we can […]
COVID has affected everyone’s life, from job changes to remote learning to mask wearing in public. Perhaps the most impacted have been health care workers. When COVID first hit our emergency room, a complete shakeup came down, from protocols to our very dress, with physicians and nurses outfitted in spacesuit attire. Anne Musgrove is the […]
When a client enters Polished Salon and Spa, they can leave their cares at the door. “In this crazy, hectic world, there’s not much time to relax and take time for ourselves,” says owner and stylist Rachael Hollingsworth, “so when our clients are at Polished, that’s their time to take a moment and relax.” Hollingsworth […]
While Wendy Figer was driving to her corporate job in the spring of 2002, a “for lease” sign caught her eye. “I was born with an entrepreneurial mindset,” says Figer, who holds a degree in marketing and worked in the casino industry and hotel operations. “I love creating experiences and making a positive difference in […]
