VIDALIA — Promise Hospital, located on the Vidalia Riverfront, promises to do more than care for the physical ailments of their patients — they provide mental and emotional treatment as well.

Johnnie McDonald is a longtime resident of Natchez and started receiving medical attention for a chronic foot wound at Promise approximately three years ago.

Six to seven months after receiving treatment, his house burned to the ground and all of his possessions with it.

He was admitted to Promise again with smoke inhalation, but vice president of business development at Promise, Tommy Milligan, said McDonald was also in need of emotional healing after the incident.

“We developed a trusting relationship and became good friends,” Milligan said.

“The only thing he had left was basically the clothes on his back. He was in the hospital with inhalation pneumonia from breathing in the smoke. … I’m looking at a guy that I became a friend to that needed help not only physically, but emotionally.”

Milligan said he asked McDonald’s doctor, Barry Tillman if there was anything else he could do to help McDonald.

“While (McDonald) was here, the staff actually donated clothes for him to help him get back on his feet,” Milligan said.

Milligan said he and McDonald have formed a close friendship throughout the duration of his treatment at Promise.

“I can be at my house and hear someone honking out in the driveway and it’s him. He wants to check on me and he wants to check on my family, so he’ll stop by every once in a while just to visit,” Milligan said.

Promise, Milligan said, specializes in long-term acute care. He said most patients stay an average of 25 days and the staff is polite and friendly to their patients to ensure they feel safe and comfortable while receiving treatment.

Milligan said Promise also offers career counseling and physical therapy. Promise has several private rooms and a gym with large windows that face the river.

McDonald still receives treatment for his foot approximately once a week because he lacks feeling in his lower extremities. His hurt foot is darker than the other, so he nicknamed his feet salt and pepper.

“Promise made me come back alive, and they aren’t done with me yet,” said McDonald.

Like many patients, McDonald said he felt apprehensive about receiving long-term care at first but knew that he needed medical attention to get better.

“My mind said ‘no’ … but (Milligan) talked so nice,” McDonald said. “He didn’t have to do that. … I got well, with the help of the good Lord.”

McDonald said everyone he met at Promise was nice to him and gave him everything he needed when he had nothing.

“They greet me with an open heart, a Christian heart and a loving heart,” McDonald said. “Through the help of God … they got me some clothes. … I had enough to get on the street and go to church and everything. … I had nothing coming in and left with everything.”

Milligan said the hospital doesn’t see victims of house fires such as McDonald very often. However, Milligan said Promise deals with accidents and tragedies on a daily basis.

“We treat emotional scars daily,” Milligan said. “Everyone is different, so we have to be flexible to their needs. … We are the promise people.”