Valerie E. Rogers. Managing preemie stomas: more than just the pouch. 2003;30:100-110.
Valerie considers herself a late bloomer. She received her BSN from Michigan State University in 1975 and spent many years as a maternal-child nurse, working at a little of this and a little of that. She traveled from Michigan to Oklahoma to Massachusetts to Maryland working as a staff nurse in pediatrics, PICU, NICU, maternity, labor and delivery, and pediatric hematology-oncology. Although she loved them all, Valerie couldn't find the right fit. Meanwhile, she concentrated on raising her 3 children and playing room mother, brownie leader, and swim team manager and fulfilling other miscellaneous motherly duties "as required."
Returning to the classroom after a 20-year hiatus, Valerie became a pediatric nurse practitioner in 1998, graduating from the University of Maryland with her MS 1 month before her oldest daughter graduated from high school. She accepted the only PNP job she could find, working with the pediatric surgeons at Children's Surgical Associates in Baltimore, Md, a job that she still holds. She thoroughly enjoys working with children in the practice who have congenital anomalies and chronic illnesses. Valerie especially takes pleasure in managing children with wound, ostomy, and continence problems, of which there is no shortage in a pediatric surgery office.
Having a passion to provide "her kids" with the best possible outcomes but realizing she needed more education, she finally finagled time off of work to return to school and become a certified WOCN. Valerie graduated from Wicks Educational Associates in Harrisburg, Pa, in 2002 and realized, at the ripe old age of 48, that she had finally found her niche in nursing. She wrote "Managing preemie stomas: more than just the pouch" as a research paper for her WOCN program. She is happily engaged with the Pediatric Subcommittee of the WOCN Society developing best practice guidelines for pediatric ostomy care. Valerie has recently embarked on a new frontier, speaking at conferences on pediatric surgical and WOCN issues. She continues to lobby her loving but reluctant husband of 27 years to support her through a PhD program. Stay tuned!!