ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260025
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
In December, Judith Cauley got a master's degree in critical care nursing from the University of Virginia. She did it while working full time as an educator at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Next stop: Applying for the nurse practitioner program at the University of Virginia. This semester she's taking a statistics course as preparation.
Although Cauley is in a profession that is being forced to change as the delivery of health care moves from hospital into clinics and homes, most of what she has done has been because of internal drive, not reaction to what's happening around her.
"I guess I do want to be the best I can be," she said.
As a native of Bath County, Cauley grew up in a rural area and someday she expects to work in a similar community as a nurse practitioner. Her second husband, a paramedic, shares that goal, she said.
Rural people shouldn't have to resign themselves to the lack of health care, she said.
Cauley said she knows that if a person tries he or she can make a difference.
She was married at 15, had four children by age 19, and was divorced before she was 30. But, degree by degree, beginning with a General Education Certificate because she dropped out of high school, Cauley has climbed to the top of her profession.
First, there was an associate degree from Dabney Lancaster Community College. Next, she got a bachelor's degree in nursing from Radford University; that took 10 years. Now, the master's.
While she was studying, she worked as a nurse in medical-surgical and then emergency. She was a part-time flight nurse-paramedic in the early 1980s on the Roanoke Valley's first rescue helicopter, which was owned by Lewis-Gale Hospital. She was captain of the Troutville Rescue Squad for five years.
Last year, Cauley won the Governor's Award as the nurse who has contributed the most to emergency medical services.
A typical day at RMH includes preparing materials and tests for her 27 paramedic students. She teaches an orientation class once a month and trains hospital employees in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Some nights and weekends for the past 15 years, Cauley has taught emergency medical technician classes through the Western Virginia EMS Regional System.
For many of those years she taught the EMT classes for free.
None of what she does seems like work, she said.
Cauley has felt the pressure of change in health care, but she thinks it's hardest on patients.
"Maybe health care will improve, but reform right now isn't good," she said.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Stephanie Klein-Davis. Judith "Judy" Cauley/Educationby CNBSpecialist-Emergency/Trauma Nursing, Roanoke\ Memorial Hospital.
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