Barbara Burk: Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville

By Clare Morris

For AJC Jobs

Growing up in Ohio, Barbara Burk was always attracted to nursing. She signed up for volunteer hospital work and learned about the field from her mother, a labor and delivery specialist. It was a natural step for her to enroll in nursing school and take a job working with cardiac patients.

“My very first assignment in nursing school was on the cardiac floor,” recalled Burk, 51. “I loved it. As a nurse, you have the opportunity to do a lot of teaching.

“Most of the patients are very motivated to make changes in their lives. That’s why I especially love the coronary care unit. You can see the change as a patient comes in very critical and eventually walks out the door.”

For nine years, Burk has worked in the outpatient cardiology department at Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville. The 24/7 unit treats patients with any sort of cardiac distress.

For the last two years, she’s held a supervisory role that focuses on managing the program and less on the patient care she enjoys. But it does give her the authority to make positive changes for patients.

“Before, I wasn’t in a position to influence change, and what really motivates me here is that I can actually go to a physician or to the administration, and there’s weight to what I say,” she said.

Pam Williams has worked with Burk for 15 years and cited several of the major changes her colleague has made.

“She has put customer service on top again in our department by creating thank-you cards and developing a hot line for customer service issues,” Williams said. “She accomplished getting the vascular and [echocardiography] lab certified nationally and is currently working on nuclear cardiology national certification.

“She has also worked on developing her supervisors into leaders by sending them to education classes.”

Burk’s dedication to improving things doesn’t stop at the hospital doors. In 2005, she donated a kidney to a young man who grew up with her son. And for almost 10 years, she has been an active member of a medical mission, planning trips and organizing supplies for a clinic in Haiti.

When an earthquake struck the impoverished island in January, Burk was part of a medical team that flew to the Dominican Republic five days after the disaster. She spent a week in Port au Prince caring for patients in primitive surroundings.

“We just decided to fly in and figure out how to get there once we were on the ground,” Burk said. “It was a challenge.”

“Barbara is one of those rare, selfless individuals that remind the rest of us how we want to function in this world,” colleague Ellen Mars wrote in her nomination. “She is also the person you want living next door to you, in your family and representing your country in the face of tragedy.”