By Laura Raines

For AJC Jobs

After six years on a U.S. Navy submarine, Ray Hoover held a slew of divergent civilian jobs, including dinner theater actor, driving instructor and retail manager. After awhile, Hoover missed the feeling of purpose, pride and accomplishment he had when he served his country.

Barry Williams, Special Ray Hoover

Barry Williams, Special Ray Hoover uses humor to help cut the tension in the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens. Barry Williams Special

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“I realized that I had many jobs, but no career,” Hoover said.

Hoover, 50, found that career in nursing. He graduated from Florida Community College in Jacksonville in 1997, and now works in the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens.

“I love nursing. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that you can make a difference in people’s lives and in your community,” he said. “When patients come into the ER, I can’t always make them feel good, but I can make them feel better.”

The staff calls him a frustrated stand-up comedian because Hoover’s antidote to the gravity of emergency medicine is to tell jokes, make funny noises, sing or do whatever it takes to make patients less anxious. He believes treatments have better outcomes when patients are relaxed.

“I’ll tell patients, ‘The good news is that we’re going to take really good care of you. The bad news is that I’m the cutest nurse you’re going to get,’ ” he said.

That didn’t matter to Tom Folds last spring. He had gone through several months of procedures and took narcotic painkillers to treat kidney stones, followed by blood clots and more complications.

Folds came to the ER with breathing problems. After triage, Hoover thought the cause was a pulmonary embolus and immediately got a doctor.

The patient went into respiratory arrest, but began breathing on his own again. An emergency CT scan showed a large saddle embolus bridging across his pulmonary artery. Folds received clot-buster medication immediately.

“Throughout the process, Ray was at my side... keeping my stress level at a minimum by telling me some of the craziest jokes, asking me about the craziest things and doing his dead-level best to keep my mind off the bad situation,” Folds wrote in his nomination.

Hoover kept Folds wrapped in warm blankets and reassured his girlfriend and daughter. After Folds was moved to the ICU and later, to a regular room, Hoover visited him.

“I truly believe that I could not have had a better nurse or person by my side that night,” Folds said.