Madison Hospital

Carmeleita Winburn’s insightful guidance helps keep Madison Hospital strong

FFor the past few issues, I’ve used this space to introduce you to the public-minded community members who volunteer on our Madison Hospital Board. Today I want to highlight the contributions of Carmeleita Winburn. Long before Madison Hospital opened in 2012, Carmeleita helped guide the development of the campus by serving on our very first community advisory council. Her insights as a parent, educator and tireless community volunteer have been crucial to helping me understand the health care needs of Madison families. Carmeleita has a fascinating personal history. As the child of Alabama A&M University faculty members, she was raised in a house on the A&M campus. Her late father, William Johnson, oversaw the campus’ physical plant and was the first African-American to serve on the Huntsville Utilities Board. Her late mother, Doris Johnson, taught education courses in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

When it came time to choose her own college path, Carmeleita picked another well-known historically Black university, Tennessee State in Nashville.

Like her mother, Carmeleita became an educator – first working with special-needs students in Florence and later serving as a guidance counselor for Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Eastern Michigan University Luckily for us, Carmeleita and her late husband decided to retire in North Alabama and chose Madison as their home. ... While her son Mario was still in elementary school, Carmeleita began offering her time and talents as a Madison City Schools volunteer. A few years later, she had one of the biggest volunteer jobs in town – Bob Jones High PTA president. That’s when we invited her to join our advisory board. Mary Lynne Wright In addition to her board duties, Carmeleita is an active member of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc., and contributes to an annual winter coat drive for needy children

President organized by Second Chance Deliverance and Restoration Madison Hospital Ministries Inc. She also enjoys spending time with family including her son Noah Winburn and his wife, Brandi. Having now lived here for 22 years, Carmeleita has a natural feel for what Madison families need and want from their community hospital. And she believes we are hitting the mark. “I talk to a lot of parents and senior citizens,” she told me, “and they are so thankful to have a quality hospital with an experienced staff in such close proximity. Madison is really growing, and we’re going to continue to do our best to accommodate everyone.”