A good, honest nurse who always put her patients first, Linda Hege is thrilled to have lived out her childhood dream. She had wanted to become a nurse since she was 3 or 4 years old; she was passionate about helping others and felt the field would be a good fit. Ms. Hege never lost sight of her goal, and in 1967, she triumphantly graduated from Lenoir Rhyne College with a Bachelor of Science in nursing and set off to make her mark.
The first stop on Ms. Hege’s professional journey was Forsyth Memorial Hospital, which she joined as a staff nurse in 1967. As her reputation for excellence grew, so did her responsibilities within the institution. In the decades she was there, she served them as the assistant head nurse, an educational nursing instructor, a clinical specialist, and the associate director. Ms. Hege also garnered experience as a lecturer at the Forsyth Technical Institute, Mitchell College, and the North Carolina Licensed Practical Nurse Association during this time. Additionally, she became an instructor of the Forsyth County Heart Association, a patient educator in the CI Salem Family Practice, a Special Operations Response Team Nurse, a member of the National Disaster Medical System’s North Carolina Task Force, and a clinical instructor at Forsyth Technical Community College.
Although Ms. Hege officially retired in 2011, she continues to lend her services as a nurse to the Shalom Project on a volunteer basis. The project, which includes a free medical clinic and pharmacy for anyone in need of health care, is the result of a collaboration between five churches.
Outside of nursing, Ms. Hege’s hobbies include reading, swimming, and candle-wicking.