FOR LIFE

Besides swimming, playing soccer and lacrosse, serving on student council, going to youth group at Island Community Church and occasionally fishing with her dad, another normal part of Carolyn’s upbringing in the Florida Keys was looking after her older sister, Valerie. Two years older than Carolyn, Valerie was born with cridu-chat syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by a missing portion of chromosome 5 that leads to delays in developmental and intellectual growth.

Valerie exudes joy and loves hugs, according to her sister, but has the mental development of a 9-month-old in a 12-year-old’s body. Carolyn grew up being vigilant of anything that could harm her sister, while helping feed her and performing daily care tasks — whatever she could do to assist her parents and keep her sister safe.

In 2017, Barrow graduated from Coral Shores High School to attend Florida Gulf Coast University with the goal of pursuing another form of caregiving: nursing.

“I'd grown up just always knowing how to take care of people, not necessarily in the same way I'm taking care of people now in nursing, but I've always had a want and a responsibility to care for people,” Barrow said. “And having that responsibility and knowing what it takes definitely helped me not only get through nursing school, but also succeed in specific areas of nursing.”

At FGCU, Carolyn served as president of the Nursing Student Association and volunteered at a cancer center, a school daycare and the university’s Food Forest. After three-and-a-half years of intense study and clinical rotations, Carolyn received a bachelor in science in nursing.

In February 2021, she took a job in the medical/surgical cardiac unit at Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton, Georgia. Not only was she caring for congestive heart failure, post-catheter, and pacemaker and atrial fibrillation patients, but also for COVID patients as her floor turned into a step-down ICU overflow.

With the intensity and influx of work, Barrow grew quickly in her profession and learned how to be efficient with her time. But realizing the loneliness her patients were experiencing, Carolyn made it her goal to spend 30 minutes with each patient, getting to know the person beyond their immediate health needs.

“With COVID, it was such an isolating and defeating time for everyone — the nurses, the respiratory therapists, the doctors, the patients, the patients’ families — that if you had time to really talk to someone and connect with someone, to allow them to reminisce on their story, it brought them so much joy and happiness in a time that was pretty dark,” Barrow said.

These skills and her understanding of at-home care prompted by her sister translated to her current position as a circulatory nurse in the operating room. She seeks to inform patients about the intricacies of their condition, but, most of all, walk with patients in a way only someone who understands the trials of a lifechanging diagnosis can. Her primary role is advocating for the patient during surgery, so getting to know the patient in the few minutes she has before surgery is crucial.

“I love interacting with my patients. I love hearing where they're from and what their stories are. We only have two to five minutes to connect with these people and get them to trust us,” she said. “I want to know where their thought process is so I can be the best advocate I can be for them.”

Carolyn just passed her Periop 101 test, a program designed for new operating-room nurses, and she’s training on moderate sedation. As for her future, the opportunities in nursing are boundless, so she is open to seeing where the career takes her.

Celebrating 30 years of coral research and restoration at Mote Marine Lab!

Since 1993, Mote Marine Laboratory has been a leader in protecting Florida's Coral Reef through science-based restoration techniques.

Learn more by attending one of our weekly tours at one of our three Key's locations. Scan the QR code to reserve a spot at your preferred location.

Show your support of Mote's coral reef research and restoration efforts by purchasing a Protect Our Reefs license plate from your local tax collector.

Help fund Mote's coral reef research and restoration programs by visiting mote.org/coraldonation.