Virginia-based nurse, and American Nurses Association’s 2020 Star Nurses honoree, Barbara McWhinney’s career goals sprouted at a young age, just nine years old. Her mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis, leaving McWhinney with the task of giving her parent daily shots.
“I gave it to her, vomited and said, ‘I want to be a nurse,’” McWhinney told News4. After graduating from the first ever nursing class at Virginia’s Shenandoah University back in 1967, she spent the next five decades as a health care hero battling everything from the polio crisis to the AIDS epidemic to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, at 81 years old, she’s ready to retire after 55-year of helping others.
“I’ve cried all day,” McWhinney said. “It’s kind of happy tears, but I have such great support here. I mean, it’s just a wonderful place to work.”
Hospital staff at Valley Health’s Winchester Medical Center gathered together in late June to deliver their heartfelt, tearful goodbyes to their longest tenured employee, a health care hero that has helped turn the local hospital into what it is today.
“I’ve been a bedside nurse,” McWhinney told The Winchester Star. “I’ve been a head nurse. A case manager. I’ve worked in critical care, the emergency room, the OR. I helped set up the neuro unit 53 years ago. I helped start the wound clinic in 2001.”
Newly retired, McWhinney plans to travel and take more time for self care. But, she also plans to volunteer as a hospice nurse.
“I want to do some stuff for me,” she said. “I’m going to Hawaii in September and then to Portugal and Spain. I also want to volunteer for hospice.”
McWhinney will also be spending ample time with her two sons, her daughter, her seven grandsons and her great granddaughter.
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