Meet Sally
Compassionate, Medically Knowledgeable, Experienced
Sally is a Certified Medicolegal Death Investigator and a Registered Diplomat with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI). Sims is one of thirty-nine in Georgia that has earned this Certification Level.
Education:
Sims earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Emory University in 1993. She earned a Master of Science Degree in Forensic Nursing from Fitchburg State University.
Family:
Sims met her husband, Chad Sims after graduating high school, they have been married for 27 years. The Sims reside in the Free Home Community.
Career/Work Experience:
Sims began her nursing career as an ER staff nurse at Grady Hospital in 1993, she was later promoted to Charge Nurse in the Emergency Room where she provided specialized wound and burn care and Level 1 Trauma care. In 1998 she accepted a position as Senior Charge Nurse in the Emergency Room at North Fulton Hospital, where she is currently employed, providing Level II Trauma Care. She was awarded Nurse of the Year in 2009. Sims earned the highest-level designation when she was awarded Clinical Level IV, referred to as the expert clinician level in the Professional Practice Nursing Ladder.
Sims worked as a Flight Nurse with Rescue Air One for three years where she provided critical nursing care to trauma patients during aeromedical evacuation and airlift flights.
In addition to her career as an Emergency Room Nurse, she has held the position of Deputy Coroner for almost 4 years. She served Forsyth County as an intern for one year with Forsyth County Coroner, Mary Beth Pais. Following her internship, she worked as a Forsyth Deputy Coroner for another year. In 2017 Sims served as an intern for Cherokee County Deputy Coroner, Tommy Pinyan. Cherokee County Coroner, Earl Darby hired Sims as a Deputy Coroner in November of 2017. Her expertise ranges from emergency department/trauma nursing, supervision, management, education, to medical legal death investigations (MLDI). In 2020, Sally was chosen to serve as the Coroner for Cherokee County.
Community Involvement:
Sims is a member of The Georgia Coroner’s Association, and a member of Georgia Emergency Nurses Association. She represents the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office at the monthly meetings of the Cherokee County Child Fatality Review Team, the Cherokee County Elder Abuse Task Force, the Cherokee County Suicide Prevention Coalition and Cherokee Triad-SALT. Representing the Coroner’s office, Sims works with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department in a joint presentation, “Ghost Outs,” to Cherokee County High School students each year on the dangers of texting, drinking, and driving.
