Dawn Castro
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
According to a January 2010 survey on mainstreet.com, only 45 percent of Americans are actually satisfied with their jobs.
Pat Myers, registered nurse, falls in that category. He is a clinical nurse manager at Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia, a public nonprofit organization and outpatient substance abuse program. He is driven towards educating people on mental health issues, addictions, and HIV.
His position at Behavioral Health Services is HIV and early intervention counselor. Myers said people have often asked him why he chose to work with addiction.
“I have a passion to help people,” he said. “They are still human beings. I advocate for people who need it.”
The passionate nurse and counselor was born in Greece back when the American flag only held 48 stars. He spent the first few years of his life living in an orphanage. At age 3, he was adopted by an American couple who also adopted another boy from the same orphanage.
When Myers came to the United States (Missouri), he had neither a name nor a birth certificate.
“In those days, they just put names in and drew one out,” he said. “Whatever name was pulled, that’s who you were until you were adopted. There were no birth certificates at the orphanage, so they pretty much guessed as to when your birthday was.”
When Myers was brought to America, his adoptive parents named him, and in 1958 he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. His parents then adopted a little girl, and the family moved from Missouri to Texas.
After moving a few more times, the blended family relocated to Spain where Myers graduated from high school. Spain still holds a special place in his heart mainly because that is where he met his wife. “We dated in high school but were separated after graduation,” he said. “She went to Vermont College, and I joined the Air Force.”
Myers was stationed in Wyoming but never forgot about the “love of his life.” As fate would have it, the young couple tracked each other down.
When the airman’s four years were up in the military, he decided to join his lady love in Vermont.
“On May 14, 1978, we were married at a chapel in Vermont,” Myers smiled one of the few times during this interview. “It was fate. I realized my relationship with her was more important than having a military career. When you know, you just know.”
Myers and his wife, Debra, share a common goal. Their mission in life is helping others. Debra is an international board certified lactation consultant. She is employed by South Georgia Medical Center. The couple has two sons, Zachary and Garrett, who also reside in Valdosta.
“I specifically chose to come to Valdosta because my father was stationed here at the time,” he said.
Myers’ father, known as V.K., retired from Moody Air Force Base as a first sergeant.
“I wanted to go to (what was then) Valdosta State College School of Nursing,” he said.
While in college, Myers worked as a male attendant on the psychiatric unit. In 1983 he graduated from college and started working at SGMC in the Intensive Care Unit.
After college, Myers rejoined the military and took a commissioned position as an officer at Moody Air Force Base.
“I decided to remain in Valdosta,” he said. “I started at Smith Hospital (as it was known then in Hahira) on the detox unit.”
His career at Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia dates back to 1989.
“This was at a time when HIV was a big epidemic,” Myers said. “Back then, HIV was considered to be a death sentence. It went hand-in-hand with the crack cocaine epidemic.”
Today, in addition to his counseling position, Myers is a liaison to Southwestern State Hospital in Thomasville. There he identifies consumers’ needs, attends meetings, and makes referrals two days a week. He also manages outpatient mental health and adolescent outpatient substance abuse and is a CPR instructor and certified addiction counselor (since 1989). Myers previously managed two residential treatment facilities as well.
When asked how he manages it all, he said, “I usually come in early and stay late.”
He educates the consumers who are diagnosed with HIV on the disease and works with them on risk reduction planning.
“I do rapid HIV testing specifically for substance abuse consumers,” he said. “Addicts tend to not go to the doctor or health department. Since they come here for services, we do the testing and education here. Some do not want to come out in the light of day.”
The clinic is open daily, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It also has extended hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
As with any profession, there is an upside and a downside to the daily grind. Myers said, for him, there definitely is the heartbreak side of his job, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he loves what he does, he would have been long gone.
“It’s the pluses that keep me going,” he said. “The negatives are just minor inconveniences.”
One of the positive factors, he said, is having the opportunity to collaborate with consumers to make positive choices in their lives.
“We are the safety net for those who don’t have the resources,” Myers added. “We help make a difference in their lives”
Another thing the dedicated counselor likes about his job is that he gets to work with women to help empower them against abusive partners.
In the case of addiction, Myers said even though there has been some progress over the years, there is still the stigma that follows it.
“People have really lost their compassion for others,” he said. “They should show some care and concern and see what kind of difference they can make. There is definitely a great need. The general population thinks mental health people are dangerous. For the most part, they are people who are just suffering.”
At Behavioral Health Services, consumers are taught how to be more independent. Myers said employment is difficult for those who have had addiction problems.
“I’ve worked with people who were addicted to crack and went on to graduate from college,” he said.
Even in the world of nursing, mental health doesn’t rate very high among choices for nursing students because of the old stigmas.
“Part of our role is to change people’s minds,” he stated. “People don’t wake up and choose to be schizophrenic or bipolar. Some people are inherently predisposed, others may have been in an accident. To an outsider, it may appear to be easy to just stop taking drugs or just snap out of the depression, but until you’ve lived it, you will never understand.”
Myers said alcohol and drug abuse definitely add to the mental health issue, and that is why the services are there. He hopes to change the issues with treatment and education.
He briefly mentioned some of the things he considers to be downfalls to his profession.
“The budget and services keep shrinking, and when that happens, the mentally ill are always the first to suffer,” he said. “Trying to maintain a level of service is my biggest frustration. There is an increased number of those who really need the services, and we try to provide that amidst the cuts.”
Myers went on to say people are still lacking in knowledge when it comes to HIV.
“A gentleman who used to live here said he had to notify his landlord that he was HIV positive,” he said. “He went through so much because of that he eventually just moved away from Valdosta. My goal is that people would just educate themselves on HIV, mental health, and addiction.”
For Myers, there is such a need of assistance here in Valdosta ,and the help he feels he can provide far outweighs a sizable income in a bigger city.
“I don’t do it for the money ... and I don’t do all of this by myself,” Myers made sure to mention. “There is a supportive network of people at Behavioral Health Services who all have the same goal in mind ... helping others.”
Myers was adamant about not coming across as sounding egotistical or pretentious. His heart is in “everything he does.”
“I just want to help and let others know they, too, can help instead of judging or believing in the stigmas.”
When Myers is not educating people and assisting consumers, he enjoys cycling, home renovations, playing the guitar, and traveling.
“I travel back to Vermont on occasion,” he said. “It’s really beautiful there in the fall.”
Like anyone else, Myers enjoys his time off, but he said he definitely could not see himself doing anything else.
“After I retire, I would like to do more cycling, but honestly, if you ask what I would be doing instead of my current job, I really don’t know,” he said. “I’m sure it would be on the same lines of helping people in some capacity. But if I absolutely had to choose another profession, it would probably be a chef or bicycle shop owner. I love what I do. HIV is my passion, and then after that I really like working with the addiction consumers. Sometimes I wonder if this profession chose me or if I chose it. I have no regrets.”
