By By LYDIA GRIMES – features writer
Nursing is a family affair for Jamie and Missy Kilcrease. The days of all women nurses in their starched white uniforms and white caps are things of the past. Nowadays, the nursing profession includes men and no one wears white anymore.
This is National Nurses' Week, and in honor of all the nurses everywhere, especially those in Brewton, our profiles this week are of husband and wife, Jamie and Missy Kilcrease.
Jamie had not planned on a career in nursing. It just sort of happened.
Jamie may be in the nursing profession because of an accident, but that doesn't mean he is not good at what he does.
Anyone who comes into the emergency room during his shift knows that he is what all nurses should be - professional and caring.
He is usually the first nurse the patients see when they arrive at the D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital.
Nursing may not have been much of an accident for Jamie - he said there are many that there are many nurses in his family.
Melissa &#8220Missy” Kilcrease, Jamie's wife of two years, is also a nurse.
She, too, works at the hospital on med surge, which means she works on the floor and in the surgical unit. She has worked as a charge nurse.
Shifts are long, usually 12 hours at a time, but the hospital has worked with the couple in order for their shifts to coincide so they have the same hours on and the same hours off duty.
This seems to work out pretty well as they work one week and then are off one week.
Jamie was born in Atmore and raised in Perdido. He attended school in Bay Minette while he was in the ninth and tenth grades. He finished the eleventh grade and graduated from W.S. Neal in 2000. He was one of six children of a split family. According to him, he was a B student in school but never really applied himself.
After graduation he decided to go to Jefferson Davis Community College and began filling out applications. That is where he said he hit on the idea of becoming a nurse. And it all happened because of the application he filled out to get some scholarship money for college. He also got a job at Wal-Mart, where incidentally his grandmother, Frances Goolsby, works.
He received an associate's degree in applied science in 2003, and went to work at the hospital where he was already working part-time as an orderly. He worked as a care tech for a while and didn't have much duty work.
He said he hasn't given up on getting more education sometime in the future.
Maybe she followed him, but Missy had already taken courses in high school that would help in nursing in college.
She was born in Arkansas and came to live in Brewton at age 12 when her dad's job brought him to McPherson Archery.
She graduated from T.R. Miller High School in 2001. She said she was an average student and served in the color guard. It was during her senior year that she decided to take the courses leading to becoming a nurse. She was able to obtain some scholarship money to help her through college, and she, too, got a job at Wal-Mart, selling jewelry.
She graduated in 2003 and got a job as unit secretary at the hospital. She has since moved into med surge.
The couple has no children but they do have a dog and cat. They like to spend time outdoors. They play golf, motorcycle, and kayak and play tennis. Jamie said he likes photography and they like to watch ER and find all the mistakes that are made in the Emergency Room.