Most people don’t know what they want to do for the rest of their lives until later in life, but some know at an early age. For Gail Starnes, she knew in second grade. She knew it was her calling to help others and take care of people. Eventually, that calling would lead her to the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare.
It was 1978 when Starnes found her way to the Bluegrass state. She left Ohio to visit a friend at Eastern Kentucky University. She says she liked Kentucky so much she began taking classes at UK. She would work her way through school, eventually ending up in her permanent home as a nurse in Trauma/Transplant, Progressive Care at UK Chandler Hospital.
“When I first came to UK, there were only a few options, and they put me in neurosurgery. I did that for three and a half years, then I became a neurosurgery clinic coordinator” says Starnes. “When I returned to patient care, there was no available bedside position in neurosurgery, so I took a transplant position, and I loved it. With transplant, it’s the gift of life.”
Not only does Starnes enjoy helping her patients through receiving the gift of life, but she also enjoys the continuous opportunity to share her love for her job with students.
