Paul D. Camp Community College nursing students were encouraged by a recent visit from Sentara Obici Hospital’s Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Phyllis Stoneburner. This is the third year that she has taken the time to spend with the senior class of Registered Nursing students at the college.

“With her passion for nursing and her leadership experience, she shared what their future may look like and the opportunities that nursing can provide for them,” said Associate Degree in Nursing Program Lead/Associate Professor of Nursing Trudy Kuehn. “As always, she was engaging and left the students eager to complete their degree and begin their careers.”

Stoneburner advised the students to work in a supportive environment that will assist them in their aspirations.

Slightly tearful due to her upcoming retirement, Stoneburner said to be a nurse is a “privilege and honor. I am grateful to have had such a diverse but meaningful career.”

Stoneburner holds a diploma in nursing from the Riverside School of Professional Nursing, a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Christopher Newport University and a Master of Business Administration from West Virginia University.

“She is always gracious with the students and candid in her answers,” said Kuehn. “She welcomes the hopes, dreams and fears of the new RN graduates.

“She will be greatly missed upon her retirement. We hope to entice her out of retirement next year to continue to dispense her special brand of advice to the next generation of nurses.”

For more information about the nursing program at PDCCC, email cgriffin@pdc.edu.