THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230177
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
Sarah Bishop is wearing a crisp, navy blue dress with gold stripes and epaulets. Don't worry, she assures a visitor. There's no Navy rank with five stripes.
Bishop knows. The daughter of a retired rear admiral, Bishop grew up on Navy bases around the country, landing in Norfolk as a high school senior.
From her father, Bishop learned more than the symbols of rank. She learned how to lead.
And she used the skills he taught her - accept people as they are, celebrate differences, foster cooperation - to guide a diverse group of people this past year in identifying the greatest health problems facing the region's children.
``You can tell she's an admiral's daughter,'' says Ardythe Morrow, a medical researcher who worked closely with Bishop as a member of the Coalition for Infant and Child Health's task force. ``She makes sure to bring everybody's talents into the pool by listening and keeping in her head information about different people. She understands people's backgrounds and expertise, and makes an effort to draw upon their talents.''
For Bishop, 43, the question of where to put her energies in Hampton Roads was easy. She is, first and foremost she says, a mother. Her two daughters are now 12 and 15.
Her early volunteer work with Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters eventually led to her appointment to the hospital board, which she chaired for three years.
She now serves on the board of Children's Health System, the parent company of Children's Hospital.
``She just exudes excitement and drive and energy for Children's Hospital and for children's causes,'' said Beth Duke, senior vice president for development and community relations at Children's Hospital.
Bishop was trained as a social worker, receiving her master's degree from Norfolk State University. She soon realized she would be dealing with families in crisis until she was 80 unless she worked to change systems and educate families to function differently.
For the past seven years, she's done just that as community education coordinator for Child Abuse Prevention Services in Norfolk.
``I am passionate about parent education,'' she says. ``We've got to reach parents when they have a new baby, teach them there are better ways to raise children, to nurture them, to keep them healthy and make them responsible.''
She measures the success of her work not in cold data but in individual accomplishments. Like the time one resistant father finally admitted that spanking his children wasn't working and agreed to try a different approach.
Her work with the consortium is a natural outgrowth of her commitment to children and to the hospital, she says.
``I would like to think that in three years we can say we've really made some inroads on asthma and low-birthweight babies, and that we have something in place to deal with child abuse prevention. If the end result is a lot of spinoffs, a lot of activities, then we've been successful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by Tamara Voninski/The Virginian-Pilot
We've got to reach parents . . . teach them there are better ways to
raise children.'' Sarah Bishop