As the calendar edges closer to June 17, reality sinks in for Teresa Grimes.

“You can ignore it until you can’t any more,” she said jokingly last week.

That Friday will be Grimes’ last day as CEO of Troy Regional Medical Center, a post she has held for six years and a job she said she truly loves.

“I love my job here. I love the people here. I love getting up and coming to work every day,” she said. “But this is the right thing to do. I know it. I have peace about it …

“But that doesn’t make leaving any easier.”

As part of her leaving, the staff at TRMC is hosting a farewell breakfast for Grimes at 7 to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the second floor classroom.

Grimes announced her resignation at the end of March, saying she was leaving Troy to return to her home in Chatham, where she will become CEO of Washington County hospital and its affiliated nursing home. The move allows Grimes and her husband the flexibility to help care for their aging parents.

“You know the Lord makes sure you know you made the right decision,” she said Thursday. “I was working in Chatham last week and stopped in to visit my father-in-law, who was having some chest discomfort. He was worried and asked me to stay with him … and I could do that. I knew I was in the right place.”

Grimes has been in the transition process for more than a month, working both in Chatham and Troy. Part of her work here in Troy is preparing for the transition with new CEO Ronnie Dean, who starts June 20. “We have met many time and talked many, many times,” Grimes said. “He’s up to speed and he’s in a good position. There should be no gap.”

Dean comes to TRMC from Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, where he worked for more than 300 years, most recently serving as vice president of operations. Dean was hired in April and said at the time the opportunity gives him the chance to fulfill a purpose. “”

“At the center of every hospital, there are a core set of services that are required, and they all center around what happens at the bedside,” he said then. “Making the transition will be different in scope and size but very similar in the focus. We want to be known for exceptional care … And I’m simply taking the skill sets I’ve acquired … and transferring them to Troy to engage our people, our physicians, our community.”