Sometimes you just know what you’re going to do for a career very early on. For Hardin, that job was nursing.

Hardin has been named the new Vice President of Patient Care Services/ Chief Nursing Officer at VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital, replacing the retiring Ursula Butts. Hardin took over for Butts in December.

Hardin comes from a family of nurses. Her mother, Joyce Tudor, was a nurse at CMH and area doctor’s offices for years, her brother is a nurse practitioner and her aunt is a nurse. Hardin was encouraged by her mom to enter the field and after helping her mom take care of her ill grandmother, Hardin knew what she wanted to do.

“I entered the Brunswick- Lunenburg-Mecklenburg Practical Nursing program at CMH in September 1986,” Hardin said. “While in the LPN program, CMH hired nursing students to become nursing assistants and I was hired May 1987 as a nursing assistant on Lower West, aka Skilled Care.”

Hardin was a licensed practical nurse after graduating from the CMH program in 1987 – the program’s 25th class. Her mother graduated from the very first class. Hardin started her additional educational road to becoming a registered nurse in 1989 with Barton College. Hardin has a master’s degree in nursing from Walden University.

Hardin has held quite a few jobs at CMH through the years. She was a nursing assistant on Lower West for five months and once she graduated as an LPN, she worked five years on West, before earning her bachelor’s degree in 1992. Hardin has been a charge nurse, team leader and a staff nurse through the years, as well as patient care coordinator, nursing supervisor for two years, education coordinator for three years and for the past 20 years, she was the Director of Oncology at the Hendrick Cancer & Rehab Center. Hardin even found time to be an adjunct nursing instructor at Southside Virginia Community College for two years. Hard work has never bothered Hardin.

Hardin’s varied experience at CMH made her an ideal candidate for the Vice President of Patient Care Services.

“We had several qualified candidates for this position, but Mary’s vast experience, demonstrated leadership attributes and the respect she garnered from her co-workers and colleagues made her stand out as our top choice,” said W. Scott Burnette, CEO of VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital.

Hardin has a message for the citizens of Southside Virginia and Northern North Carolina. “I want the citizens of the community to be able to trust in our care.” She continued, VCU Health CMH’s nursing mission is to “deliver safe, effective care that produces outcomes in a manner that allows nurses to leave at the end of the day proud of what they have accomplished, knowing their care has made a difference.”