Driver brings full time pediatric care back to Ashe

By Joel Frady

Parents tired of driving to Wilkes or Watauga County for their primary pediatric care now have a local option

for their children in the form of Sheila Driver, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who recently joined Total Health of Ashe. Driver has spent 27 years in nursing, 14 as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, had worked in Boone and Lenoir before opening her own office at Total Health.

"I'm just getting my pediatric business started here," she said, noting that "eventually, I'll be out on my own." She opened her doors at Total Health on October 13, finally establishing a business in West Jefferson, where she had been living for eight years.

The move is another step for the Lewisburg, N.C., native, who earned her bachelor's degree at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro and her master's at East Carolina University. After spending more than a decade in nursing, she returned to focus on pediatrics.

"I've always loved children and watching them and taking are of people when they're sick," said Driver, the second youngest of eight children. "When I decided I wanted to go back to graduate school, I decided to do pediatrics so that I could work in permanent care and watch the kids grow up. Before, I only saw them when they were tiny and when they were sick. I wanted to watch them grow up."

She said she had wanted to go into business for herself for years, and saw a need in Ashe County.

"I was really having to try and get a job in Ashe County, because a lot of people don't think there's enough children in Ashe County to support a pediatric practice," she said. "The only way I was going to do that was to create my own practice."

Driver will work with children, from birth to age 21. She can help children dealing with a wide range of problems, from colds to ear infections, and is an expert on allergies and asthma.

In her work with the National Respiratory Training Center, she has taught classes on asthma on the state and national levels.

Driver said that she only works with children because "it's very difficult to keep up with all the pediatric changes that are going on," noting that "when you're seeing children and adults it's very difficult to do it all perfect."

Driver added that she is not currently performing immunizations in the office, but hopes to add that aspect to her services by January 2009.

She also said that she focuses on education "to empower the patients not only by telling them how they got [an illness], but how they can prevent it and how they can take care of themselves."

Derek McClure, who performs general practice care at Total Health of Ashe, said that Driver has helped the business "continue to expand our services by offering pediatric care.

"She's great, she's very thorough," he said of Driver, later adding that "she's going to provide a service that has not been offered here for a long time."

Driver noted that, above all, her goal is "helping families be families" by "giving them healthy tips, not just focusing on the sick part."

Total Health of Ashe is located at 948 U.S. Highway 221 Business in West Jefferson. Driver's hours are from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday. To find out more about Driver or Total Health of Ashe, or to schedule an appointment, call (336) 846-1791. Driver also sees walk-in patients when possible.