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Do IT this week: Layering
Nancy Irby of Clinton has worked for 50 years as medical technologist
Published on Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
The eight months she spent as a teen recovering from tuberculosis at Edwin Shaw Hospital, as did her mother before her, were lifesaving and life changing.
That's because Nancy Irby, the former Nancy Hodges, was not only healed. She also settled on her life's work in the process.
With a little nudging, the Clinton woman, who is celebrating her 69th birthday today, opened the book last week on her long-running career story.
Irby has been a medical technologist for an astounding 50 years, all at Akron General Medical Center.
She works ''semi full-time'' — 56 hours in a two-week period, including every other weekend and two major holidays a year — and credits the late Delbert Sauders, the one-time head of Akron General's microbiology department, with steering her career path.
''I was a patient at Edwin
Shaw between my sophomore and junior years when I met him,'' said Irby, dressed in a white lab coat, of her journey back in time. ''He would draw my blood.''
Her mother had told Sauders about her daughter's interest in becoming a medical technologist.
''He said, 'When you graduate (from Norton High School), come see me,' '' Irby recounted.
Actually, she started her on-the-job training between her junior and senior years. Then, after graduation, she began working in all of the labs.
Years later, a supervisor encouraged her to become certified, which required special testing. ''I was grandfathered in by the state,'' she said of her wealth of experience.
Reflecting on a half-century on the job with no immediate plans to retire, Irby cataloged a lot of the changes, such as dealing with computers, that she has seen over the years.
''I used to draw blood, but that's now done by the nurses,'' she said. ''I miss the patient contact.''
Then there are the raft of precautions, such as the wearing of gloves, that were implemented in the wake of HIV/AIDS.
What hasn't changed is the team of professionals.
''I work with a great group of people,'' she said. ''I'm very blessed. They've always been so congenial. And it's been a real joy to work with the young students and the med tech students.''
Irby said the real joy she observes in her unique laboratory of learning — truly the heartbeat of the hospital — ''has been watching the hospital grow and expand.''
''I know I'm partial. But I just can't say enough about this hospital,'' she exhaled.
Irby and her husband, Jerry, her high school sweetheart, have been married 48 years and have two sons. They also have two grandchildren; another is deceased.
When she's not on the job, Irby busies herself with lots of activities. She plays bridge, golfs with her husband in the hospital's mixed league and exercises at one of Akron General's wellness centers.
And when she's not raising her voice in praise of AGMC, Nancy Irby and her husband are lending their voices to the Akron Symphony Chorus, where he is on the board. Both are active fundraisers for the symphony.
Happy work life, home life and hobbies. Talk about incredible chemistry!
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Get the full article here.
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