Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505020004
SECTION: NURSES PAGE: N-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The mother, Patricia Tibbs, works at Bedford Hospital, where she attended the nursing program to become an LPN.
The four agree that family circumstances influenced their career choices. Pat Tibbs' husband was disabled and forced to retire early at age 42, according to his son Emory Wayne (E.W.) Tibbs, Jr. Since then his father has endured six back surgeries. Growing up in that atmosphere, said E.W., influenced him and his sister, Sharon Tibbs McKinney, he said.
Their mother's nursing career also influenced their choice According to Sharon, her mother used to be a bus driver. In the 1980s, Pat Tibbs said she decided to go back to school. While working full time, she attended the LPN program at Bedford Hospital for 18 months, took her boards and passed. She said nursing was a natural for her.
"It's teaching people to care for themselves to their fullest extent, and that's important to me. My husband is disabled. If I hadn't gone to nursing school, I'd probably be in the projects somewhere,'' she said.
This May, Tibbs will graduate from the College of Health Sciences and take her boards for RN certification.
"I decided to go back for my RN because I needed something for myself. I wanted to spread my wings and fly. I'm at the point now where I realize there's so much more to learn,'' she said.
She said she influenced her daughter's decision to attend nursing school. Tibbs said Sharon was interested in cosmetology (according to Sharon, that was back in grade school), but her mother wanted her to have something she could fall back on. "I thought this would help her through her life,'' said her mother.
Sharon, who graduated in 1988 with a two-year associate degree, is a clinical leader in the emergency room. She oversees the daily schedules, makes assignments and is also involved in hands-on nursing duties. She said her father's chronic illness brought about an early interest in medicine.
"I can remember going through junior and senior high school choosing medical topics for reports,'' she said. She worked every weekend and holidays at Bedford Hospital from 11th grade through college, and joined the EMS crew her junior year, where she met Tony McKinney, her future husband.
When she was younger, "my mother said I'd almost mummify my little brother with Band-Aids," she said. "I couldn't picture doing anything else,'' Sharon said.
Eventually Sharon wants to become a clinical specialist, which will require a graduate degree. Her emergency room work, she said, is difficult.
"It's like you're a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. I've been here since 1988, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something new. We are the busiest E.R. in Southwest Virginia, averaging 3,600 patients per month. It's the best place for me to work, professionally and personally. One minute you are able to witness the birth of a child, and then you turn around and go into a code, and hold the hand of a lady whose husband is passing away. You have to take comfort as a patient advocate. That's where I get my satisfaction,'' she said.
Sharon's brother, E.W., says he feels the same way about E.R. nursing.
"It's mentally as well as physically stressful, but there's never a dull moment,'' he said. He graduated in May 1991, attended Roanoke College for a year, but changed directions when he got married and realized that health care was in his stars as well.
"It seemed like my sister and mother really enjoyed what they were doing,'' he said.
His greatest interest lies in pediatric care, he said, and he would eventually like to focus on that area. He and his sister are planning to enter the College of Health Sciences' new RN-to-BSN program this fall. They both estimate it will take them another 18 months to complete the program and receive a degree.
E.W.'s brother-in-law, Tony McKinney, also is a Community Hospital emergency room nurse. He began his health-care career in emergency training right out of high school, along with his younger brother.
In 1983 he went to work for Roanoke City, starting as a cardiac technician. He attended the College of Health Sciences for his paramedic certification, and is nationally certified. After eight years on that job, he decided to return to school for his nursing education.
"It's a good career track and there are so many opportunities. I felt I had a good background in a care-giving role. I also teach in the College of Health Sciences' paramedic program,'' he said.
He said his greatest influence was his early EMS experience, and that he had already decided to go in that direction when he met Sharon. Going into emergency room nursing was a natural transition for him, he said, but nursing is very different from being a paramedic.
"There's more to learn, more responsibility, more patients at once, and more disease processes,'' he said.
"I thought I knew right much about emergency medicine after 10 years, but I found out very fast I didn't know as much as I thought I did. The only regret I have is that I didn't do this sooner.''
He and Sharon have decided that she will attend the RN-to-BSN program first, and then Tony will go back to school to become either a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner. He said that although the concept of nurse practitioners in emergency rooms hasn't exactly hit Southwest Virginia yet, "with managed care, it's coming.''
With four - five counting Tony's younger brother - in health care, it might get a little close around the table at times. But E.W. said it's actually "neat, working with my brother-in-law and sister. We work together well, because we know what to expect from each other. We've always been very close,'' he said.
Sharon and her mother agreed. "God has really blessed me with my family. I have a great mom,'' said Sharon.
And, "my children have been such blessings. Not many people can say that,'' said their mother.
Her mother, who said she's even tried to convince E.W.'s wife to go into nursing, has further education plans after graduation this May. She wants to work a couple of years, and then go back to school to specialize in critical care.
But the Tibbs/McKinney clan had better watch out. According to E.W., "dad said if he saw another text book come through his door, he was leaving.''
by CNB