My City Wellness Winter 2022

My Wellness

“I saw the passion to help others in my mother, grandmother and great grandmother. I just want to help people like they did.”

ISABELLE SPARKS

THEO

MELISSA

“My mom worked the second shift and I worked first shift. Sometimes, we worked together. It was amazing to watch her. I wanted to be like her – it was great!” McComb continued her work as a nurse at the Women and Children’s Center at Genesys Regional Medical Center (now Ascension Genesys Hospital.) “You give your whole self and you give your heart,” she says when describing her career. “ e outcome is so rewarding.” McComb is now retired and thrilled that her daughter, Melissa Sparks, followed in her footsteps and her mother’s. As the third-generation nurse in the close-knit family, Sparks is currently Director of Regulatory Compliance for Ascension Genesys Hospital. She earned a master’s degree in 2018 which allowed her the opportunity to pursue a leadership position. She began her career as a registered nurse in the Telemetry Unit at Genesys. Her mom and grandmother played huge

TERESA

roles in her decision to pursue nursing. “It’s in my blood,” she shares. She remembers when her mom and grandmother worked together in the same hospital unit. “ ey would pass me o , back and forth; one would watch me while the other was working. I feel so comfortable in a hospital setting because it was such a big part of my life growing up. It feels like home.” And being able to share the nursing experience with her family members is a blessing. “It’s nice to have people in the family who know what it’s about,” Sparks says. “I’m so proud.” Sparks’ daughter Isabelle is a 2021 Flushing High School grad now pursuing her nursing degree at Siena Heights University a er receiving a golf scholarship to study there. She knew at a very young age that she wanted to be a nurse. “It’s something I always wanted to do,” she says. “I saw the

ISABELLE

passion to help others in my mother, grandmother and great grandmother. I just want to help people like they did.” Isabelle’s ultimate goal is to become a nurse anesthetist in an intensive care unit. “I wanted to go further a er watching my mom get her master’s degree,” she explains. “It made me want to further my education.” When she graduates in 2025, she will become the family’s fourth- generation nurse. “I’m just excited to have the opportunity to carry on a legacy that was started by my great grandmother and continued all the way to me,” says the future nurse. “It will be an honor to do a job that all of the women in my family have found so ful lling.” ®

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