2013 Women in Business Section people I work with, I just wouldn’t trade them,” she said about Dublin Family Medicine’s nine-person staff. And the patients—literally thousands over the years—are “all my favorites,” she said regarding the fulfillment and motivation she draws from diagnosing and treating. “Just helping people,” she said about the most rewarding aspect of her job; “always being a (Registered Nurse), first” is her top priority—“that’s the whole reason you go into being a caregiver—especially now that I can actually diagnose and prescribe treatment.” Those medical privileges were earned in 2007 when Young, already working for Dr. Hutchins, graduated from Saint Louis University in Missouri with a Family Nurse Practitioner degree. While her initial R.N. degree was attained at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 2004, Young first started working in the medical field at the old Dublin Hospital (now an office complex and retirement center) in the late 1980s, straight out of UTA with a Bachelor of Science degree. Then around 1989, she began working in home healthcare, becoming instrumental in initiating one of Erath County’s most valuable services.
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“When I first started, there really wasn’t hospice around here,” Young said about the at-home treatment for terminally and seriously ill patients. Eventually Young left homehealth care after completing her studies at TCU, and joined Dr. Hutchins’ team in 2005. In the meantime, Young’s husband Pat, or “Othel” (a family nickname derived from his grandfather, O.T. Young), has been with her since the beginning of her career, as the two actually knew each other at Stephenville High but didn’t date. “We had a class together; he was a smart kid,” she remembered fondly. It wasn’t until her sophomore year at UTA—also Othel’s alma mater— that the two reconnected and their “friendship turned into a romance,” eventually marrying in 1985. “We’ve been together ever since,” she said, and today counts spending time “and enjoying my husband” as one of her favorite things to do when she isn’t working. Othel is a manager at FMC Technologies in Stephenville. The couple is parents to Elizabeth, 26, a transplant nurse at Baylor Healthcare System in Fort Worth. And their youngest, son Nicholas, 23, is finishing a degree in economics at Texas State University in San Marcos.
These days Young also counts herself as a bourgeoning golfer—“I just got a new set of clubs” from Othel; “so I guess I’m golfing,” she said laughingly. She also loves to travel to see her grandmother in Georgia, and watching ESPN’s “College Gameday on Saturdays!” she said enthusiastically. Equally, however, Young relishes her days at the clinic, especially when the students are around. “You really see the progress in the medical students (Dr. Hutchins’ residents),” Young said; “fresh out of school; no
RILEY Cont’d from Page 5 she is likely to find a bright spot in even the darkest day, and usually can translate adversity into humor. Back when the kids were still in school it had rained so much that the roads going to Rileys and their neighbors were so flooded that the school buses couldn’t run. Joe and Donna took the big feed truck and went to school to pick up the Riley kids and neighboring Lanting and Gilder kids, as well. They all packed into the single-cab truck and forded the high water to get the kids home. Donna still laughs about how much
experience. They’re wide-eyed, and to watch their progress is such an experience.” She also reaps enormous satisfaction from her nursing students’ development, too—especially when they return to her later in life to express their gratitude. “They’re always very appreciative,” she said. For her part, Young is grateful to work with her coworkers at Dublin Family Medical and Dr. Hutchins, and “plans to retire here,” she said. “I think he’s planning to retire with me, too,” she said laughingly. fun they had all packed into that small cab. And the kids have lasting memories of being picked up at school in a feed truck. There are no idle hands at the Rileys and Donna combined her newspaper interview with driving the silage truck. She apologized for not having time to stop and talk. “We’ve been waiting all summer for this feed to be ready to cut.” A woman’s work is never done. Especially a pioneer woman. “Joe has his 50 percent of the work he is best at and I have mine,” Donna said. “We both do our part and it works out well.”
Dublin Independent School
We Trust in the Guiding Hands of our wonderful Ladies District who work to keep our schools a place where our Children can develop into Outstanding Young Adults. Thanks for your Excellence in education of our young people!