Article archive / October 1, 2013
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 2. Source pages: 6.
Dr. James Nelson, physician from Hammond, Louisiana, was appointed in late June to the Licensed Professional Counselors Board. Nelson will serve as the new Member-at- Large, replacing Mr. Dustin Dowling who completed his term in July, the board’s director Mary Alice Olsan told the Times recently.
Dr. Nelson is a general surgeon at Surgical Associates in Hammond, according the LPC Board website. He has served as the Chief Medical Officer at North Oaks Health System and until recently also served on the North Oaks Board of commissioners until his term expired in April.
Olsan said that Dr. Nelson attended his first meeting in July and the members were enthusiastic about his appointment.
According to several sources, Nelson has served as a board member or chairman of the Hammond Chamber of Commerce, Tangipahoa Area United Way, Downtown Development District, Richard Murphy Hospice Foundation, and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church. He is also served United States Air Force Reserve Medical Corps where he retired with the rank of Colonel. He initially served in the 60’s, then again in the 90’s when he was deployed in Operation Desert Storm.
Nelson was in the middle of a political struggle recently when the Tangipahoa Parish Council, a group that has appointing authority for the North Oaks Hospital’s board of commis- sioners, decided to fill the position left by Nelson with attorney Ron Macaluso, instead of reappointing Nelson, as reported by Vic Couvillion, for the Advocate, April 28, 2013.
This created an outcry in the community. The Advocate reported a standing-room-only crowd of physicians, admin- istrators, nurses and employees, who asked the Council to reappoint Nelson. Guy Recotta, Jr., Chairman North Oaks Health System Board of Commissioners and also the Clerk of Court for the City Court of Hammond, pleaded for the Council to keep Nelson. Despite this the Council appoint- ed Macaluso. They then offered for Nelson to serve as an ex- officio member but he declined.
The LPC Board also announced that members Gerra Perkins, Laura Choate, and Penny Millhollon were re-nominated and reaffirmed to their board positions. Perkins is Chair, Choate is Vice-Chair, and Millhollon is Board Secretary.
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