Jennifer Pipkin, a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) with West Georgia Anesthesiology Associates, and Maceo Tanner, a registered nurse (RN) with Tanner Health System, are passionate about their roles.
However, their commitment to their field, colleagues and patients extends across Georgia as two of the 12 governor-appointed members of the Georgia State Board of Nursing.
The Georgia State Board of Nursing is responsible for regulating registered professional nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. The board members develop rules and regulations that set the standards for nursing practice and education, provide the minimum qualifications for licensure, and ensure that the disciplinary process is implemented in a fashion that guarantees due process and public protection.
The board has a lot of moving parts, according to Pipkin.
“While serving on the board, we see the very best of our profession,” Pipkin said. “We have some incredible professionals across the state. We’ve seen a lot of individuals shine since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Georgia.”
Tanner agrees: “As nurses, we take an oath to do no harm to our patients. The board protects our patients and community by ensuring that we have nurses who are upholding their oath morally and legally.”
Learn more about their nursing stories.
Jennifer Pipkin, CRNA
Pipkin says she feels right at home working at Tanner, and she means it — literally. She was born at Tanner Medical Center and now works in the anesthesia department, often alongside David Helton, MD, the OB-GYN specialist who delivered her.
“Today, working in the hospital where you were born is becoming rare. But, over the long history of medicine, it was common, especially in small communities. Tanner feels like home for me, and I know that most of my colleagues think of it in the same way. It has been the great privilege of my life to help take care of the community that took care of me,” said Pipkin.
“Caring for people when they need it is one of the most rewarding things to me. I have always been intrigued by health care. From the people who work here, to the facilities we work in, to the community we serve, practicing medicine at Tanner is a special experience. I love our profession. I just really like helping people,” she added.
Pipkin has worked full time as a CRNA at Tanner since 2018 and worked on a part-time basis in 2017. Before becoming a CRNA, she was a graduate nurse from Jacksonville State University at Tanner for two years. The graduate nursing program was launched by the Georgia State Board of Nursing that she and Tanner now serve on to help address Georgia’s nurses shortage. The board is addressing the shortage by allowing a student who has completed an RN program to work and be paid as a registered nurse under the guidance of a licensed RN before obtaining a license.
Governor Brian Kemp appointed Pipkin to the state nursing board in June of 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for the board as it worked to address the nursing shortage here in Georgia.
“COVID-19 was and continues to be a scary time, and there have been a lot of uncertainties,” said Pipkin. “But it has been encouraging to see the medical community come together to help encourage each other during a global worldwide pandemic. All areas of the earth were affected — including west Georgia.”
“When the pandemic hit, one of Governor Kemp’s executive orders was to allow out-of-state nurses with an unencumbered license to get to work in Georgia by obtaining an emergency temporary permit. Governor Kemp allowed licensed practical nurses (LPN), registered nurses (RN) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) from other states to come to Georgia through a temporary licensing process managed by the board members and staff,” said Pipkin.
Background documents and checks, licensing, and other processes can normally take at least a month, but by working together with various state entities, including the Secretary of State’s office, staff was actually processing nursing applications overnight to get them into Georgia safely and quickly, she said.
“It felt good to be part of the solution,” she said. “It was a time of uncertainty with everything changing rapidly. But we were able to get more nurses into the state quickly to provide the care that Georgians needed. I have met some of the most caring and talented professionals that Georgia has to offer. Serving on the board is one of the most significant honors of my career. I am learning things every day that I would never have learned before.”
Pipkin is married to her husband, Judge Trea Pipkin, a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals. They live in McDonough with their two Pomeranian pups. A native of Ranburne, Alabama, she enjoys working in Carrollton and being able to keep up with family nearby.
“Tanner is the perfect-sized hospital to work in, where everyone knows one another. They’re family, too,” she said.
Maceo Tanner, RN
When Tanner puts on her scrubs every day, she’s living her dream of working in health care.
Those “power” scrubs project the inner strength, hope and pride of someone who cares deeply for her patients and fellow nurses, and who is ready to handle whatever nursing brings her way — including a pandemic.
When Pipkin nominated Tanner to join her on the board, Tanner leaped at the opportunity to expand her knowledge of nursing beyond the bedside to understand the mechanics of the broader nursing community.
Tanner was familiar with the Georgia State Board of Nursing, but she was still surprised by the magnitude of her state role when she joined in 2020.
That includes proper education, training and credentialing — and a consistent and fair disciplinary process when they don’t perform their duties as they should, she added.
“We need every nurse, but we need every nurse to be a good and safe practicing nurse,” said Tanner. “This experience on the board has made me much more conscious and careful of what I am doing as a nursing professional. I want to be the kind of nurse I would want to care of me and my family. I am a nurse 24/7. I am a Tanner Health System nurse.”
“It’s a tremendous responsibility. We are learning and doing our part by reviewing cases, understanding the legalities, and taking responsibility for our nursing community as we make the best decisions for our fellow nurses,” she said.
Tanner earned her LPN diploma from West Georgia Technical College and took her first nursing job at Bremen Internal Medicine before moving into a medical/surgical nursing role at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton. As she has grown in her nursing career — internal medicine, medical/surgical, gastrointestinal and various units as a float pool nurse— her sense of Tanner Health System has also grown.
She earned her registered nurse (RN) status this year from Herzing University in Birmingham.
“Tanner Health System is my family,” she said. “I am with these coworkers most of the week. We cry together and help each other. We are definitely a team.”
The inspiration behind her nursing career is rooted in the examples set by the Tanner nurses who came before her.
“Many of our Tanner Health System nurses started as nurse techs,” said Tanner. “Those are the nurses who have impacted the community and nurses like me. They are one of the reasons why I have remained a nurse, a Tanner nurse. You saw their love of nursing. A commitment to take care of the patients and train new nurses to be great nurses. You didn’t ask too many questions. You just watched and learned. They exemplified a nurse. You saw Florence Nightingale in those nurses. They are the pillars of Tanner nurses and our community.”
COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on health care, and Tanner reflects on the health system’s first COVID-19 patient.
“Originally, the virus was terrifying. It was so foreign, something we just saw on the news, but then it invaded our hospital, our community,” she said. “We’ve been working through all the ins and outs now and understand the virus a little better, and we are protecting ourselves and our community by being safe. This virus definitely changed healthcare; it will never be the same.”
“We want everyone to be safe and well,” said Tanner. “COVID-19 has impacted our community, and some of our coworkers got sick, too. It really hits home when you see someone you have always viewed as strong and an important part of your extended family become so fragile.”
Originally from Mableton, Tanner and her husband live in Temple, where their 15-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son are active in sports and school.
“We root for them in the stands and the classroom. They make us so proud,” she said.
For more information on our nursing opportunities, visit the www.tanner.org/career-opportunities/tanner-careers page.