For Dana Aiken, RN, working at Beaufort Memorial is more than just a job. It is an organization that she and her family are intertwined with.
A Beaufort native, Dana was born at the hospital, as were her three children — Kaylee, Josh and Ali. Her mother, Linda, has worked at the hospital as a respiratory therapist for 25 years. And Beaufort Memorial even cured Linda’s cancer.
“Beaufort Memorial will always have a special place in my family’s heart because of the Foundation,” says Dana, referring to the Beaufort Memorial Hospital Foundation. “My mother’s breast cancer was found very early on because of a machine that was purchased by the Foundation. She received minimal radiation but no chemotherapy and was thankfully cured. If it weren’t for the Foundation, it wouldn’t have ended up that way.”
The Long Road to Orthopedic Care
The reasons why Dana decided to become an orthopedic nurse at Beaufort Memorial are even more personal.
Dana says she did her life backwards compared to most people. Her first two children were born before she was 21, so she decided to delay school. Instead, she worked in the food and beverage industry managing local restaurants through her 20s. But she always knew that health care would be her future.
“I feel that I was born to do nursing,” Dana says. “That is corny, but I would never have felt complete if I had not gone to nursing school. I remember being a kid and always picking people like Florence Nightingale for my research projects. Things kept happening in my life to keep pushing me toward reaching that nursing goal.”
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It was yet another moment of connection with Beaufort Memorial that would help propel her to reach her goal.
“When I was 26, I got out of bed one day and couldn’t move,” Dana says. “I could barely crawl across the floor for help. It turned out that I have degenerative disease throughout my lower back and had a herniated disc that was pressing on my sciatic nerve.”
So, she turned to Dr. Scott Strohmeyer, a board-certified spine surgeon with the Beaufort Memorial Advanced Orthopedics and Spine Program, who performed three successful surgeries on her back.
Healed, inspired by the care she received from the Beaufort Memorial orthopedics team and with her kids in school, Dana finally found the right moment. She graduated with an associate degree in nursing from Technical College of the Lowcountry in 2015 and immediately came to work on the Beaufort Memorial orthopedics floor.
Big Changes in Family, Work and Life
In 2021, Dana decided to take advantage of a leadership opportunity to work for the Beaufort County Detention Center directing their health services. But her bond with Beaufort Memorial was rekindled when she returned in November. She now works alongside eight expert surgeons, including Dr. Strohmeyer, as total joint and spine orthopedic care program coordinator at Beaufort Memorial, and she loves it.
“You get a lot of people that come in and they are debilitated, just like I was,” Dana says. After their surgeries, “they will send us pictures riding their bike cross-country or on the golf course using that new shoulder. We get to see a lot of lives changed, and that really is rewarding.”
Of course, despite the important role Beaufort Memorial played in Dana’s life, family comes first. And the Aiken family is busy.
Dana and her husband, Eddie, are very involved in Ali’s travel softball team. Ali also plays on the varsity high school team as a seventh grader. Kaylee recently began a graduate program in social work at the University of South Carolina, following in her mother’s footsteps to care for her community. And within the last year, Dana became a military wife and mother.
At age 40, Eddie earned a commission as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves through Army Officer Candidate School. Meanwhile, Josh earned a commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force after graduating from University of South Carolina on an ROTC scholarship. Influenced by his mom’s love of orthopedics, he will be a physical therapist in the U.S. Air Force.
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“Both personally and professionally, we have lots of changes in our family right now,” Dana says. “I am looking forward to settling down and growing our joint and spine program. I missed my Beaufort Memorial home, and it has been great to come back to a work culture that has such a family atmosphere.”
Eager to put your skills and passion to work in your community? Browse current job openings at Beaufort Memorial.
