Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Marsha Roddenberry
Celebrating Nurses 2009 : Marsha Roddenberry
'No better place to be'
Special Sections Writer
A teacher inspired Marsha Roddenberry to pursue a career in nursing more than 25 years ago. It's a field Roddenberry believes affords more opportunities to affect the lives of others than most other professions.
"Be prepared to sacrifice, because it's not a position that puts you first," said Roddenberry, a registered nurse. "There will be times when you may not always have the opportunity to eat or the other necessities, because your patients come first. It is a sacrifice, but it's also very, very rewarding. To look back and think of all the people you've encountered and make a difference in their lives, there's no better place to be than either education or the medical field. Probably nursing offers that better than any other side of the medical field."
Roddenberry, 44, has worked at High Point Regional Health System since 1987. She went to Trinity High School, where teacher Jane Beeson directed her on the path to nursing through the Health Occupations Students of America program.
"Through that program, you became a nursing assistant, so I worked as a nursing assistant in long-term care while going to school," Roddenberry said. "I also worked in a rehab center while in school. I don't know that there was any one particular event, I just always had compassion for anyone — any animal, anything — that needed help."
Now she herself guides aspiring health-care professionals, working 10 hours a week in a program that trains certified nursing assistants at Davidson County Community College. She works 20 hours a week as a staff nurse in Outpatient Surgical Services at High Point Regional.
One of Roddenberry's fellow nurses on the unit, Della Nance, nominated her as an extraordinary nurse. Nance was honored as an extraordinary nurse in 2008.
"I nominate her because of the consistent, patient-focused, individualized care that I see her deliver every day," Nance wrote. "I hear patients frequently give comments about how ‘caring and professional' she is with them. She has a naturally soft voice and quiet nature. This brings a calmness to the most stressful situations on our unit. She has a gift for teaching and is often the ‘chosen one' if we have a new nurse or a student nurse on the unit to learn our area."
More than two decades after she started work at High Point Regional, Roddenberry still thinks she has a lot to learn.
"Keeping up with the changes in medicine and the new technologies is also a challenge, but again, that keeps it interesting," Roddenberry said.
- Debra Allen , Rockingham Co. Health Dept
- Diane Bell, Randolph Cancer Center
- Thomas Brown, Randolph Hospital
- Leslie Butcher, Brenner's Children's Hospital
- Lenora D. Clapp, NC Dept of Corrections
- Cynthia E. Knust, Moses Cone Health Systems
- Marsha Roddenberry, High Point Regional
- Marsha Long, Carolina Medical Center
- Jan Parker, Hospice of Greensboro
- Sarah Turner, Kids Path/Hospice
