Tye Adams: Serving With a Smile

From the Marine Corps to Beaufort Memorial, two factors have driven and sustained Tenaya “Tye” Adams throughout her career: her dedication to helping others and her unwavering smile. A technical lab assistant and phlebotomist — a health care professional who draws patients’ blood for lab tests — Tye has worked at Beaufort Memorial for more than 11 years, mostly in the Outpatient Lab. She loves interacting with patients, and her kindness and positive attitude put them at ease.

“We have new patients come in every day, and patients who visit regularly,” Tye says. “They know me by name, and I know them by name. We sit and talk and have a great time. I just love patients.”

Phlebotomy wasn’t on Tye’s radar when the Wisconsin native joined the Marine Corps in 1990. She met her future husband, Bryce, on the bus ride from Jacksonville, Florida, to boot camp at Parris Island, where she got to know the Lowcountry. The pair went through boot camp together, then six weeks later reconnected at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, California. The couple got married while in the Marine Corps, and 2023 marks their 31st wedding anniversary.

“We did get to travel together for most of our time together in the military, but we did get deployed to places apart,” Tye says. “That's when Bryce took care of the family. When he was gone, I did the same. Our family members are world travelers and live in many places.”

Tye’s career as an air traffic controller with the Marines took her to California, Japan, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Fallujah, Iraq, the site of some of the worst fighting of the Iraq War, Tenaya discovered in the midst of tragedy what she wanted to do once she left the military.

“I stayed behind the front lines, where I worked with medical personnel and learned how to make tourniquets, give shots and draw blood from someone missing a leg,” Tye says.

Although she found providing trauma care to be stressful, the other aspects of her experience made her realize she might have a future in phlebotomy.

Tye and her husband were stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort when they retired from the Marines, and they decided to make the Lowcountry their home. She was hired at Beaufort Memorial in February 2012.

In nearly a dozen years since Tye joined the Beaufort Memorial family, she’s certainly left her mark. In 2022, she was honored to be named runner-up for Clinical Employee of the Year. She was nominated for her dedication to patients.

“Her kind and helpful attitude is what brings a patient back to BMH. Even if the patient’s need is for another department, she will go out of her way to help them find the answer they need,” the nomination read. “She treats all staff and patients with honor and respect and is always going above the call of duty. BMH is lucky to have such an amazing staff member.”

Tye has also been recognized for the support she provides to the PATH (People Achieving Their Highest) program participants who are striving to become phlebotomists. Tye, a phlebotomy instructor for the PATH program, earned a certificate of appreciation for her support.

“Tye welcomes each student with open arms (literally), providing them the opportunity to apply their newly learned venipuncture skills in a safe, educational environment,” says Paige Thompson, clinical instructor in the Education Department. “Tye is the epitome of what we look for in a preceptor: Someone who loves their job and is willing to provide guidance, support and words of encouragement that the students can carry into their new career!”

A craft lover, Tye is well known for distributing around 500 homemade ornaments each Christmas season, a tradition that started when she helped her grandson make an ornament for his teacher.