Press Releases
New Cooler-Freezer Added to Hospital Food Pantry
Posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
It’s Cool Inside: A giant cooler-freezer was added to the Mercy Health Love County
Food Pantry in February, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation. Yes, It’s Tall Too: Jessica Crosthwait stands inside, where the cooler is
10’x12’ and the freezer is 10’x10’.
SOMF Grant Brings Walk-In Cooler-Freezer to Pantry
A new walk-in cooler-freezer has been installed in the Mercy Health Love County Food Pantry on Memorial Drive in Marietta, restoring substantial refrigeration for the first time since the May 2024 tornado destroyed the original pantry building and equipment.
A $50,000 gift from the Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation funded the purchase. “We are very grateful to Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation for helping the pantry in such a meaningful and long-lasting way,” said Jessica Crosthwait, who oversees the hospital’s food purchases from the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
The combination unit includes a 10’x10’ freezer and a 10’x12’ cooler, manufactured by Leer and sold by a local Ravia company, JayComp Development. Both sides were stocked and ready for the pantry’s regular Tuesday distribution from 8 a.m. to noon. With the added capacity, Crosthwait said the pantry can now accept more produce, meats, dairy, and even freeze bread shipments over the weekend to distribute fresh on Tuesdays.
Before the installation, cold storage consisted of three small 10‑cubic‑foot chest freezers, forcing the pantry to decline free...
X-Rays Service Reopens Feb. 9, 2026!
Posted on Monday, February 9th, 2026
Blake Scott shows off new x-ray equipment on opening day on February 9, 2026.
In July 2025, the room was beginning to take shape. Much electrical
and construction work followed to carve out the new X-ray rooms
in the Therapy Building.
Blake Scott, Director of Imagining Services, might have expected to spend Monday, his first day back from parental leave, showing off photos of newborn daughter, Adalynn Grace. Instead, he found himself celebrating a different milestone.
Over the weekend, the Oklahoma State Department of Health officially approved the reopening of the Mercy Health Love County radiology department, making x-ray images the focus of the proud papa's day.
X-rays resumed Monday for outpatients of the clinic or of any other referring physician from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. The phone number is (580) 300-3254.
All new x-ray equipment and a new suite of rooms in the Therapy Building on the hospital's east side have been acquired since the Marietta tornado of May 2024.
"I'm thankful and excited to reopen. People were feeling down after the tornado, but patients have given us their support while we rebuilt. We're grateful and appreciative of the hard work done by everybody to make this day happen," Scott said.
For nearly two years, local patients drove to Mercy Hospital Ardmore for x-rays.
"The crew of technicians there was great to work with," Scott said, "but having our own department will be very helpful to our clinic doctors who may...
Dr. Terry Jones Retires on December 22
Posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2025
Dr. Jones Retires: Terry Jones, M.D. and his wife Lorraine are joined at
a clinic retirement party by Clinic Director Misti Kirk (r) and hospital
director Scott Callender.
Always known as a sports fan, Dr. Terry Jones couldn't resist showing up at his retirement party with co-workers on December 23, wearing an Ohio State logo shirt. His wife, Lorraine, was dressed to match.
The Buckeyes are contending for a national championship in football in the next few days.
"I have to support them because I worked so hard there getting my medical degree," Jones said with a smile. That was in 1983. He interned in Austin, Texas, and completed residency in Wichita, KS.
Chickasaw Nation Health Clinics were brand new at the time, and Jones started his medical career in the Chickasaw clinics in Ada and Tishomingo.
Later career stops took him to private practice and emergency medicine.
He joined Mercy Health Love County Clinic in 2014 as a Board-certified family physician. Misti Kirk, clinic director, estimated Dr. Jones served 1,000 patients. Over the past six months, they have transferred to other physicians and nurse practitioners in the clinic.
Jones has always had high praise for the clinic staff and other coworkers and he thanked them again for their skill and help. Many had served alongside him his entire tenure.
Asked to think back over special interests in medicine, Jones named hypertension, or high blood pressure. Untreated it is a leading cause of heart...
PA Finds a Home for Horses in Her Move to Oklahoma
Posted on Friday, December 19th, 2025
NEW PA IN EMERGENCY ROOM BRINGS A PASSION FOR MEDICINE AND HORSES
DeDeAnders, DMS, PA-C
DeDe Anders was 17 years old in 1991 and wondering what to do with her life when she first set foot in Oklahoma.
Or, rather boot. The native of Wyoming arrived here as a solider at Ft. Sill in Lawton. Based on aptitude test scores, the U.S. Army made her a medic. She worked three years in a troop medical clinic, and grew to like the field.
When her time in the Army was up, Anders' direction in life was set - pursue medical studies and zero in on a specialty.
She never forgot Oklahoma – especially the warm weather and the strong tradition in horses and rodeos. She has been a barrel racer from youth.
In 2025, Anders and medicine, and horses, and Oklahoma would meet again. She joined Mercy Health Love County Emergency Room as a Physician Assistant on September 1, the day the new emergency room opened. She moved from Wyoming with two barrel-racing horses.
"My world is small," she said, “medicine and horses."
Her medical education from 1994 to the present has been phenomenal.
It topped out in 2023 with a doctorate of medical science (DMS), the highest academic degree a physician assistant can obtain. Her specialty within the degree was emergency medicine. The granting institution was Lincoln Memorial University.
Already, her expertise is being recognized. The national board for PA’s has engaged Anders to write questions for the PA-C, the profession’s national exam....
New Nurse Practitioner in ER
Posted on Friday, December 5th, 2025
HIGHLY-EXPERIENCED NURSE PRACTITIONER JOINS EMERGENCY ROOM
Sandy Harman, DNP, Nurse Practitioner
Sandy Harman, nurse practitioner, has joined Mercy Health Love County in the Emergency Room. She provides critical care, diagnosing and treating patients who have acute illnesses or injuries.
The friendly and kind clinician has settled in since opening day of the ER on September 2. “I really like this community,” Harman said of Marietta. “People are hard-working and nice, and in the emergency room, all have been respectful toward the staff.”
“The teamwork here is phenomenal,” she added. “The staff is well-trained, competent, friendly, and takes care of patients well.” She also noted the “very knowledgeable” paramedics at the nearby ambulance station who come into the ER to assist her.
“Phenomenal” is an apt description of Harman’s career and education. As she explains, “I have 33 years in nursing, with 25 of them as a nurse-practitioner, and 16 years of education in the medical field.”
Starting as a senior in high school in Carrollton, Missouri in 1986, Harman gained licensure successively as a certified nurse’s aide (CNA), emergency medical technician (EMT) and licensed vocational nurse (LVN).
“Our family physician was one of the first nurse practitioners in Missouri. I was influenced by the way she provided care to pursue that profession myself,” said Harman, who proceeded to work her way through college.
After earning an associate’s degree, she qualified...