PORTSMOUTH-The Smalley children are no strangers to the field of nursing. Siblings Angie, Brian, and Melanie grew up with two nurses in the family and each found their own pathway into their careers after graduating with their nursing degrees from Shawnee State University. All three siblings have now found themselves in different nursing specialties working within the region.

Starting in the SSU Nursing program in the late 1990s, Angie (Smalley) Hobbs knew she wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse. A native of McDermott, Ohio, she chose to stay close to home to go to school because her younger sister had just been born. Offered a scholarship to SSU, it became an easy decision to attend. She graduated from the university in 1997 with her Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) and has been working in Southern Ohio Medical Center’s (SOMC) Maternity Department for over 20 years. In her role, Angie has seen a bit of everything.

“We have an LDRP – labor, delivery, recovery, and post-partum – unit so I get to do it all,” she said. “I do labor, assist with c-sections, recovery, and care for mom and baby after delivery. It’s a very hard job. We are caring for a patient we can’t even see during labor.”

Angie’s younger brother Brian found his way into nursing in another way. Working in a different field until his job was relocated overseas, he started to look for careers that were important to his hometown. At the time he was considering the nursing program at SSU, Angie was already working as a nurse while his younger sister Melanie was about to start the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at the university.

“I honestly had never thought of nursing before that time and I didn’t think I would like it as a profession or that I was a particularly good fit,” he said. “It wasn’t until I was in the SSU program and working in the field that I truly developed a passion for nursing.”

Brian, who graduated with his degree in 2014, is currently the Nurse Director for Child & Adolescent Services at River Park Behavioral Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. In his role he oversees the nurses and Mental Health Technicians on the acute, residential trauma, and the teen sex offender program – units that care for youth that span from ages seven to seventeen.

Younger sister Melanie obtained her BSN from SSU in 2017 and began working in SOMC’s Progressive Care Unit, a transitional unit between a regular medical floor and intensive care.

“My favorite part of being a nurse is by far the connections I get to make with my patients,” she said. “When you care for someone 12 hours a day for several days in a row you learn a lot about them and get to know them very personally.”

All three siblings have found the opportunity to work in the same field an interesting experience to share.

“It’s great to have Angie and Melanie in the same field because we have individuals in our personal lives that understand the highs and the lows of the profession and have had similar experiences,” said Brian. “None of us have ever worked together and work in very different areas and roles, but many of our experiences still align and we have a chance to share those experiences with someone else who truly gets it because they have been there.”

Taking different pathways to become a nurse – Angie with her ADN out of high school, Brian returning as a non-traditional student to pursue his ADN, and Melanie obtaining her BSN – each of them were prepared for successful careers thanks to SSU.

“I had a fantastic group of instructors and our class size was small – both of which were invaluable to my experience,” said Melanie. “I know that the program, my instructors, and my classmates are what helped shape me into the nurse I am today.”

Looking at their experiences in the nursing field, Angie is thankful to share this profession with her family.

“I am so proud to tell others that both of my siblings are also nurses and that we all graduated from SSU,” said Angie. “My daughter is currently enrolled in the nursing program at Shawnee State and will graduate in the fall.”

SSU offers many pathways in the nursing industry – the Associate Degree of Nursing, LPN-RN Pathway, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and the fully online RN-BSN Pathway. The programs have been regionally-recognized for their excellence in the classroom, in clinical setup, and for job placement after graduation.

To learn more about the School of Nursing at Shawnee State University, visit www.shawnee.edu/nursing.