|
||||
It's a business she set up herself, named MedicalTraining.me, that serves paramedics and nurses who need continuing education as well as certification in their chosen fields. Eastern North Carolina is her main territory of service. She operates out of an office suite and training center at 101 East Market Street in Downtown Smithfield. She started the business in 2013, doing all the work herself. Now she has 22 sub-contractors helping her with all sorts of health-care training. "Our whole purpose is to make sure our clients walk out of here with a better understanding of the needs of everyday people," Melissa explained. "There's no free-standing training like this east of Raleigh." Recognizing her successful endeavor, the Chamber of Commerce at Monday's annual banquet presented her the Jimmy Creech Small Business Person of the Year Award (named for the late Smithfield pharmacist who was in business here for more than 50 years). "I'm an ER nurse at heart," Melissa said. She recalled an incident early in her career where she told a patient he had experienced a "heart attack." Having said that, she noticed, the gentleman "didn't hear another word I was saying." He was terrified at the thought of "heart attack." That prompted her to change her approach. Instead of "heart attack," she now says things like: "Your pipes are clogged. We can fix that. You're gonna be okay." A health-care professional's choice of words can affect a patient's attitude in a positive way that leads to a quicker recovery, she believes.
her own in business at first. But she found inspiration from her mother, Cathie Shuler, who started a local day-care business on her own many years ago. Today her mother is the owner of the office space Melissa leases for her business. Melissa attributes her success to a simple philosophy: "When you don't know the answer, find somebody who's smarter than you." She grew up in the rural Corbett-Hatcher community north of Selma and attended Smithfield-Selma High School until her family moved to Raleigh, where she graduated from Athens Drive High. She got her bachelor of science degree in nursing from East Carolina University in 1999. In addition to her work as a health-care educator, Melissa was a co-founder in 2015 of the Johnston Network on Aging and chaired the Smithfield-Selma Chamber Business Women's Network in 2017. She recently completed a term of service on the board of Smithfield's Ava Gardner Museum. Melissa is a single mom raising two children: Thomas, 12, and Lanie, 10. She enjoys speaking to civic clubs and other groups about identifying and seeking immediate treatment for heart attacks and strokes. "I'm passionate about what I do," she concluded. Here's the link to her business website: medicaltraining.me. |
||||
|
|
