It did not take long for the community in Indianola and abroad to respond to the recent passing of South Sunflower County Hospital’s family practice and emergency room physician Katherine Teresa Patterson on Saturday. Known to friends, family and colleagues as “Katie,” the 47-year-old was not only a trusted professional among her peers and patients, but she was also very active in civic endeavors in Sunflower County.
Former Enterprise-Tocsin publisher Bryan Davis crystallized the impact she had on the community.
“When my family first moved to Indianola, Dr. Katie Patterson was one of the first people we got to know, because she became the primary physician for our daughters, Ellie and Sarah. But Katie was more than just our pediatrician. She was our youth soccer director, a co-star in Mid-Delta Arts Association productions and the biggest advocate for the Henry M. Seymour Library, one of our girls’ favorite places to visit,” Davis said. “When we purchased our home from the Methodist Church in 2018, Katie was one of the committee members who did the final walk-through with us. This past spring, one of the last stories I covered as editor of The E-T was the opening of the Wellness Center, a project Katie was involved with bringing to fruition. If something positive was happening in Indianola, Katie was likely there, making sure it was done correctly. We send our condolences to David and his boys and the Patterson and Fokakis families.”
Patterson’s colleague, Dr. Jay W. Lee, chief medical officer of Share Ourselves Community Health Center in Orange County, California, tweeted on September 3, “We are grieving today. Our MAFP past president and current AAFCOP AAAFP Delegate Katherine T. Patterson, MD FAAP of Indianola passed away due to complications from leukemia. She had just been honored at MAFP’s Family Physician of the Year just a few weeks ago.”
Former Enterprise-Tocsin publisher Charlie Smith lamented over the loss in a letter to the editor. He wrote, “She always approached medicine with a smile and a gung-ho attitude.”
Sentiments like this are very common from those who were under Patterson’s care during her 19-year career. A patient who is identified as Sosha P. left the following post on March 11, 2021, on healthgrades.com: “She is the best doctor in the building. She was my ob gyn for both my sons although she didn’t get to deliver them. Need more doctors like her. She’s very caring and perfect with children.”
South Sunflower County Hospital CEO Courtney Phillips said that the hospital would not be releasing a statement out of respect for Patterson’s family as they make funeral arrangements.
“We miss her,” Phillips said. “She was a wonderful caring person that was involved in our community.”
According to healthgrades.com, Patterson graduated from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in 2003 and has been affiliated with both South Sunflower County Hospital and Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
