From Beaufort County Community College

 

For the third year running, a Beaufort County Community College alumnus has been recognized by Vidant Beaufort Hospital for nursing excellence throughout the year.

Melissa Swain, who earned her Associate Degree Nursing at BCCC in 2003, has worked at Vidant Beaufort Hospital ever since, and is the 2015 recipient of the Juanita Jackson Award for Nursing Excellence. The award is presented by the hospital’s nursing management team each May as part of National Nurses Week. The two previous winners, Debbie Deal and Donna Deans, are also alumni of the college.

“In the past 11-plus years, Melissa has continuously proven herself to be one of the most dependable, energetic, compassionate nurses that Vidant Beaufort has ever employed,” reads Swain’s nomination for the award. She was also recognized for her friendliness, compassion and work ethic.

Swain says she and her husband, who grew up in Belhaven, lived all over the place before returning to Beaufort County. They now live in Bath.

“I like the small community, and recognizing people around town,” she says. “It’s an amazing outpouring when you have something going on.”

While completing a degree in massage therapy through Lenoir Community College, Swain had an opportunity to spend time in BCCC’s Allied Health Building, working on members of the faculty and staff. There had been some doctors and nurses in her family, so the medical field had always been in the back of her mind, she adds. That’s when she decided to go for the nursing degree.

“I like being with people, and trying to help with their healing,” she says. “I try to do some holistic things – the more good things you can do with people, the more they start to take care of themselves as well.”

Swain, like Deal and Deans, says BCCC prepared her well for the challenges of a career in nursing. Working on the surgical floor, known as 2 East, she says she runs into others who attended BCCC or who are working to complete their clinicals.

“It’s been a good floor,” she says. “It ended up being just the right thing for me.”

Her coworkers and management team feel the same way about her, which is clear from her nomination letter: “Not only does she exhibit a positive and engaged attitude, but she expects the same from her fellow staff. She has always been a team player for not only 2 East, but for all of Vidant Beaufort.”