NURSE Takes Flight
Model Member
by Lydia Weaver, Community Relations Specialist
L
ifesaver is not a requirement necessary to be a model member, but Edythe “Edie” McGoff could check that off if it were. From the ripe old age of 12, McGoff knew she wanted to be a nurse. The first time she remembers her grandmother being admitted to the hospital, McGoff was too young to be allowed visitation in the room. At age 14, when her grandmother was readmitted, she was again told that she was too young to enter. Determined not to miss a single thing, McGoff set out to become a nurse so that she could be there all the time, instead of stuck in a waiting room. Since then, McGoff ’s career has spanned both continents and generations: She has been stationed around the world, but also assists young and old at home in Winchester. Today, McGoff works as an adjunct nursing faculty member at Shenandoah University leading behavioral health courses. Along with that position, McGoff volunteers as a parish nurse for Bethel Lutheran Church, is a part of the We Honor Veterans program at Blue Ridge Hospice, serves as an Honor Flight nurse and is active with the American Red Cross. In fact, she is the most recent recipient of our region’s Acts of Courage and Spirit of the Red Cross Award. Her commitment to caring for others extends to many more organizations, but her upbringing was the catalyst In 2019, Edie McGoff was honored with the of a decades-long (and still Nurse Hero Award at counting) career. the American Red Cross McGoff grew up with her Celebration of Heroes. grandparents and mother, and she says they were always caring people. As a family, they would take care of neighborhood friends when they got hurt. Being raised around such compassionate behavior inspired McGoff to become a caretaker professionally. When it comes to nursing, she says caring and working together to help one another are the most important factors, but those characteristics can’t be exclusively taught in school. “If you don’t have [caring] in your blood, you shouldn’t even be there,” she says. 20 • Cooperative Living • November-December 2023
november-december-2023-cl-pages.indd 20
Convinced she couldn’t get into nursing school herself, McGoff began her caregiving by joining a rescue squad in Pennsylvania, her home state, where she took her first first-aid class. She also enrolled in the licensed practical nurse program at her local technical school, which led to her being accepted to Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. McGoff continued her education earning a Master of Nursing Administration at George Mason University, so clearly, the journey worked out. Emergency departments quickly became McGoff ’s primary workplace. Thriving in the fast-paced environment, she led emergency and trauma services at multiple hospitals. McGoff has trained others on disaster preparedness, established trauma centers, and created disastermanagement programs for three emergency departments. She took that experience with her in various volunteering roles with the American Red Cross and into her next endeavor. AN ELEVATED LEVEL OF CARE McGoff ’s military career began later, around 1989. She had always wanted to enlist, initially considering it during the Vietnam War, but her mother didn’t want her to be sent off to war. When she received a postcard in the mail looking for nurses about 20 years later, McGoff In 2007, was still interested. McGoff was stationed This time, even with in Balad, two children at Iraq, during home, her husband Operation encouraged her to Iraqi Freedom. apply. With the assumption that
“My family taught me well. To respect people, and treat them right, and do what you can to help them. As a nurse, that’s my job.” – Edythe McGoff
Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative
10/17/23 1:10 PM