Sue Reed
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JOHNSON CITY (June 5, 2014) – Sue Reed will be the first to tell you that she doesn’t like being in the spotlight, and she admits there are some stories from her past that not many people know about.
She dropped out of high school at the age of 17. She became a widow when she was 23.
Seven months after her husband died, she was told that her three-year-old son had leukemia.
She shares those stories, but only at times when the situation is right.
But what you will hear Sue talk about often is her love for her students at East Tennessee State University and her love for the patients and her colleagues at the Johnson City Community Health Center.
And, her love for her country.
With a husband, two children, and dreams of going to graduate school, Reed decided to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 33. What followed was a distinguished career that earned her numerous military decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal, five Army Commendations, six Army Achievement Medals, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. She was mobilized four times and was activated during Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
Last month, Reed retired from the military following 26 years of service.
“Twenty-six years, two months, and 17 days,” she said.
Though she is retiring from the military, she is continuing her full-time duties at ETSU. She is a staff nurse practitioner in the College of Nursing and works as a nurse practitioner and director of special populations at one of the school’s nurse-managed clinics, specifically the Johnson City Community Health Center, a facility that provides health care to many underserved and at-risk groups.
As a young teen, Reed never envisioned a career as a nurse and a soldier, but what she did sense was a desire to be the person others could depend upon.
“That is something I got from mom,” Reed said. “She was the person that the neighbors always came to see when they needed something. She became a nurse, and that set the stage. I decided I wanted to be just like her.”
When she decided to quit high school, Reed promised her mom she would get her GED before she started a family. She remained true to her word and earned her GED. Not long after her first son was born, her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“I helped care for him, and the point came as he worsened that I came to the realization that I was going to become a widow and that I needed to be in a position to be able to support my family,” she said.
Reed applied to ETSU and was a student in the associate degree program in nursing when her husband passed away.
Because she didn’t receive a passing grade in one of her courses she had to be readmitted to the program. A few months after her husband’s death, Reed was back in nursing school when she noticed severe bruising all over her three-year-old son’s chest and legs.
“He had been sick for over a month and had been diagnosed with a fever of unknown origins,” she said. “I knew something was wrong when I saw the bruising that morning because he had been on the couch all weekend.”
So Reed took her son back to the pediatrician. The doctor took one look at him and then left the room and returned with a lab technician to draw his blood.
“He told me he strongly suspected my son had leukemia,” Reed remembers.
“I had been a widow for just seven months and I had no one sitting in that room with me other than my son when I got this news.”
The pediatrician asked her how soon she could get the resources together to get to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis.
“I was still in a state of shock and I told him I could probably get the money together in a week or so,” she said. “I was a single mom who worked part time and was a full-time student. I didn’t have that kind of money.”
Reed stayed in the exam room with her son while the pediatrician went to see other patients. He returned to the room periodically to check on them.
“I remember him coming back in and telling me that two tickets were waiting for me at the airport,” she said. “It then hit me; that very kind man had bought our tickets.”
Her son’s battle against cancer was one that he fought twice as a child. As he was nearing the end of his treatment for leukemia, Reed noticed an enlarged lymph node on his neck, which turned out to be Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Additional treatment was required, and 34 years later, he remains in remission.
“Those were very tough years in my life and people have asked me how I was able to survive all of that,” she said. “What I learned was that we go through experiences and situations in life in order to prepare us for future situations. It made me stronger as a person, nurse and provider and has enabled me to help other parents and patients deal with catastrophic situations.”
Reed never lost sight of her dream of becoming a nurse. She was later readmitted to the ETSU associate degree program and went on to finish her bachelor’s degree. She also got married again and gave birth to a second son.
Her journey into the military actually began during a Saturday evening game of Rook.
“I had a cousin who was a recruiter for the Air Force and he and his wife played Rook with Bobby (her husband) and me practically every Saturday night,” she said. “He had initially talked to us about joining the military on a full-time basis, but my husband didn’t feel it was the right decision for us.”
She, however, gave consideration to the idea for herself, and on Feb. 22, 1988, at the age of 33, she enlisted in the Tennessee Army National Guard (later transferring to the U.S. Army Reserves). Because of her previous experience and education, she entered the service as a direct commissioned second lieutenant.
Reed says the military gave her opportunities she never thought were possible, and that even though it was hugely challenging at times, she embraced those challenges.
Within a couple of years came the announcement that ETSU would be offering a master’s program in nursing. With aspirations of becoming a nurse practitioner, Reed applied and was accepted into the inaugural class.
Then America went to war, and her plans changed.
In the fall of 1990 during Desert Shield/Storm, Reed received word that she was being activated. Two days before Christmas, she arrived at Bad Cannstatt, Germany, 8,000 miles away from her family.
“I was assigned to work at 5th General Hospital located just outside of Stuttgart, Germany, where we were to be prepared to handle any overflow of casualties from Landstuhl” she said. “Fortunately, the war ended quickly and we didn’t receive any casualties, but we were prepared.”
By spring, Reed was able to return home. A military stipend made it possible for her to receive her M.S.N. degree from ETSU.
Since joining the ETSU College of Nursing faculty, she has spent all of her time practicing at the Johnson City Community Health Center, which began as the Johnson City Downtown Clinic.
“We started as a one-room clinic at the Salvation Army in Johnson City that provided health care for the homeless,” she said. “But thanks to the support of so many people and organizations, we were able to grow and to meet a rising demand for better access to health care for the working poor, the uninsured and underinsured, as well as a rising migrant population.”
The clinic opened in 1990 and will soon celebrate its 25th anniversary. Reed has worked at the clinic all but a few of those years, including 13 years as clinic director.
Reed had to take a pause from her work at the center on three occasions when she was mobilized to Camp Shelby, Miss., starting in 2004, again in 2011 and, most recently, in October 2013.
When she arrived at Camp Shelby in 2004, she was assigned to help oversee medical training, personnel and logistics. Two years later, the command surgeon sent her to work at command headquarters just outside Atlanta as a medical readiness officer. Her job was to make sure the troops were current on all vaccinations and had no major medical issues.
“You haven’t lived until you have worked for a three-star general,” Reed laughs.
She returned to Johnson City in Aug. 2008, exactly four years from when she was first mobilized to Camp Shelby. Her other two mobilizations were each less than a year.
“During the last 10 years I was mobilized a total of five years and seven months,” she said. “Everyone, everyone was so supportive when I had to leave. My family made sacrifices. My co-workers made sacrifices. But no one complained.”
Reed says the “crowning achievement” in her military career came this past March when she participated in the Bataan Memorial Death March, which is held in New Mexico each year. Between 100-650 American prisoners reportedly died during the Bataan Death March in 1942 during World War II.
“When I began training for this march I thought, ‘I’m 59 years old, should I be doing this,’” she said. “It was a lot of uphill marching and tons of sand and I elected to wear my uniform and boots.
“But I did it to challenge myself and to remember and honor those who had perished and those who had survived,” she said. “It was a completely gratifying experience.”
Reed retired from the U.S. Army on May 3, 2014, as a lieutenant colonel.
“As I look back, I see how the military prepared me to take on challenges, both big and small,” she said. “It was a wonderful opportunity and I was able to do some amazing things. Yes, it was challenging, but now I can say, ‘Hey, I did that!’
“Yeah, I did that.”