Two of Donna Mixon’s greatest loves are the fine art of crochet and nursing. Her love of crochet came naturally as a young girl. But for the Collins Birthing Center licensed practical nurse (LPN), her love of nursing was born out of necessity.
The woman who taught Donna to crochet was her grandmother, Elizabeth “Betty” Bennett, who worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Beaufort Memorial for 23 years before health-related issues caused her to retire in 2000. Betty had always hoped her granddaughter would follow in her nursing footsteps, but for a long time, the only thing the duo shared was their love of crochet.
“Grandma thought I would be good at nursing, but I disagreed,” Donna recalls laughingly. “She was right. I was wrong.”
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A New Opportunity
After graduating from Beaufort High School, Donna headed into the world of hospitality, working at a local hotel. Within a couple of years, she found work at the Marriott Vacation Club on Hilton Head Island alongside her husband, Leslie Mixon. The two, who met at a Christian youth retreat in high school and now have a son, Jesse, and daughter, Emma, were enjoying their life on Hilton Head when, suddenly, Betty got sick and had to leave Beaufort Memorial. Then, soon after, Donna’s mother also became ill.
Donna, an only child, knew she needed to go home to Beaufort to help care for her family. But she’d need a new job. So, this time, there was no hesitation. Her hospitality career was over, and she came to Beaufort Memorial.
“I basically grew up here,” Donna says, referring to the Collins Birthing Center. “Everyone knew my grandma. Everyone knew me. And I knew them. When she got sick, they wanted to help. And they did. This unit has always been a family. Getting a job here was like coming home.”
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Becoming an Expert, One Delivery at a Time
Donna started as a unit secretary at the Birthing Center in 2002. She worked nights so she could be free during the day to care for her grandmother (her mother’s health issues required a nursing facility) along with Jesse and Emma.
“I’m a night owl,” Donna says. “So, it worked perfectly for me.”
And then a funny thing happened. Donna fell in love with nursing. Specifically, labor and delivery.
She took a certified nursing assistant course at Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) and loved it so much that in 2008, with the help of her in-laws, Donna entered the LPN program at TCL. She graduated in 2012 and stayed right here at Beaufort Memorial. She’s been here ever since and now works days as a postpartum nurse.
"I have had the pleasure of watching Donna grow into a wonderful nurse," says Cheryl Savel, a registered nurse at the Collins Birthing Center. "She babysat my kids when they were young. I saw her earn her nursing degree while working and raising two children. And now she is an expert in several areas of the department."
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Sharing the Love
When she’s not helping her patients adjust to the joys of new motherhood, you can findDonna crocheting holiday gift sets for those very same new moms on her breaks. Often, she is accompanied by her friend and Certified Surgical Technician Merick Murdaugh and a few other crochet crew members.
“I honestly started crocheting again in 2019 when my husband, who has since passed, got sick with a really bad strain of adenovirus,” Donna says. “It helped calm me. It was a stress reliever. It was therapy.”
For Donna, crocheting is now a labor of Birthing Center joy. The next holiday project on the calendar is Independence Day.
“We will be crocheting red, white and blue diaper covers with red, white and blue bikini tops for the girls,” Donna says. “We try to change it up and do something new and fun each time.”
July is special to Donna for another reason as well: It will mark her 22nd anniversary at Beaufort Memorial. Just one year shy of her grandmother’s birthing center tenure, Betty’s 48-year-old granddaughter is now as in love with nursing as she is with crochet.
“As long as I can physically work, I will continue to work,” Donna says.
And she has her grandmother to thank for both.
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