Before graduating from high school, Vicki planned to join the military in order to pay for college and gain experience.  She participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) – an officer training program for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces – while she attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.  She received a full scholarship through the ROTC program, earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and graduated as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps in 1986.

Vicki met her husband, Sean, the summer before entering officer training school at Fort Sam Houston Military Base in Houston, Texas.  During her first leave, Vicki came to Newark to visit Sean, and the two of them flew to Las Vegas, Nevada, to get married.  After graduating from officer training school, Vicki was stationed at Presidio of San Francisco in California for a year and a half and then spent three years as a nurse at Fort Belvoir Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

Vicki and Sean welcomed two of their five children while she was serving in the Army, and she was promoted to Captain during that time.  A promotion to Major would mean more training and a tour of duty overseas.  Vicki decided it was time for her family to establish roots; they moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, and then to Newark to be closer to Sean’s family.

Vicki began working at Licking Memorial Hospital (LMH) in 2006 as a nurse in Labor and Delivery.  She transferred to Home Care Services and began providing treatment for patients requiring in-home care.  “I love the patients I visit and enjoy educating them about their health,” Vicki said.  “I have the opportunity to see them in their own environment where they are most comfortable, and it is a better place to follow up with them.  I get to know my patients, their families and support groups, and I really love that.”

Through her military career, Vicki learned the importance of leadership.  With each promotion in rank, she assumed more responsibility and learned to step into a situation and perform the required tasks to complete the mission.  Being adaptable also helped Vicki when she transitioned from the military to civilian life.  “Working as a nurse in the military, you were assigned a role and that is what you did.  Since working at LMH, I have been able to experience different areas of health care and have discovered my passion for educating and assisting patients in the community.”  Vicki’s leadership and passion for helping patients earned her a nomination for the 2020 Ohio Hospital Association’s Health Care Worker of the Year Award.