By By LYDIA GRIMES – Feature Writer
Mother's Day has just passed and it is the middle of National Nurses Month. Martha Dawn Singleton has a lot to do with both topics as she is a nurse who works with newborns at D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital, not to mention the fact that she is also a mother.
Singleton is a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner which means that she has additional training in neonatal and pediatrics. She is the unit manager of the Women's and Children's hall at the hospital. She works in labor-delivery, post partum and pediatric care on the hall along with her administrative duties.
Singleton does a lot of administrative work and when there is a high risk pregnancy or sick baby, she is there to see that everything is taken care of. She teaches moms about child care both before and after birth. She also teaches childbirthing classes and is the coordinator for Fetal Infant Mortality Review (FIMA). This is an organization that reviews fatalities in infants to see what could have gone wrong and what could be done to improve the next child's chances.
She also helps on the child abuse program being formed in the county.
Most of the things that happen on the obstetrics hall are positive and happy. There are the few exceptions and the staff is ready to cope with those too. Most severely sick babies and some high risk mothers are usually transferred to the University of South Alabama Children and Women's Hospital in Mobile. There they can receive the special care that they need.
Singleton was born in the hospital where she spends so much of her time. She grew up in Brewton and attended T.R. Miller High School where she graduated in 1975. She married Kimmy Singleton soon after she finished high school but she wanted to continue her education and become a nurse.
She got a job at the Brewton Medical Center pulling charts and registering patients while at the same time she entered the Jefferson Davis Junior College Nursing Program. Due to her giving birth to her first child, April, in 1977, it took her until 1978 to get her associate's degree. She then entered the University of South Alabama in Mobile and received her bachelor's degree in 1983.
During this time, she started to work at D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital in 1977 as a nursing assistant. She started working as a ob-staff nurse in 1979 and as nurse manager in 1983 when she graduated from South Alabama. She became the nurse manager for the women's and children's unit in 1985.
In 1987 she gave birth to her second child, Andrea, and in 1988, Alex, was born.
In 1993 Singleton decided to go back to school to get her master's degree. She continued to work and finished school in 1997 when she began working with the neonatal unit.
April is married to Dennis Pike who is an electrical engineer at the power plant near Dothan. Andrea is a sophomore at T.R. Miller High School and Alex is an eighth grader at Brewton Middle School.
The Singletons moved into a new home recently and are enjoying getting it fixed up like they want.
Singleton also likes to go to antique auctions and is particularly fond of the auction held in Monroe County each month.
She spends what little free time she has with her home, going to auctions and to the beach. She likes to fish and add to her collection of nativity scenes that she has been collecting over the years.
Singleton is another graduate of the nursing program at Jefferson Davis Community College that is certainly someone they can be proud of. She has followed her dream and made a success out of what she wanted to be.