Outstanding Health Care Professional honoree takes winding career path

By RANDY CAPPS

Woody Allen once said that, “if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

Judy Williams can’t help but chuckle at the career path she’s traveled, and despite the twists and turns, her 19 years of exemplary service as a hyperbaric technician in the UNC Health Johnston Wound Care Center has earned her recognition as the 2022 Johnston Now Honors Outstanding Health Care Professional Award.

“I have a long history with health care, but everything I do I just say that God has put me on the path,” Williams, a native of Micro, said. “In school, everything I took was business and accounting. That was my focus. I was going to be an office person. Back in the '90s, someone at a rest home needed help terribly. I had taken a friend there to apply, and they hired her on the spot and said, ‘Do you want to work, too?’ I was like, ‘No,’ but fast forward and I did go to work there part time. My husband was overseas in Desert Storm, so that put that in motion. I started working there. I learned a lot, and went and got my CNA. It just built from there. “I got into EMS. My brother had gotten into fire and EMS from his teen years. I had learned enough health care and been around him long enough that (I decided) to volunteer. So I did that for some years.”

She was working with Dr. Manmohan Singh when the wound center opened in 2003, and another twist of fate changed her career course once again.

“I have a lot of students that come through, and I have to say — since I have no other explanation for it — that my job is a God-given job,” she said. “When the wound center opened, (Dr. Singh) was chosen to be medical director. I worked with the staff at Johnston Health to get him credentialed to do that. And I was asked if I was coming with him. I was like, ‘No, I’m going to stay here and run the office.’ They just kind of kept on, ... I had applied for the front desk, and when I went in for my interview, the director said, ‘You have a lot of medical background.’ And by that point, I did. Nearly 10 years.”

The hospital had a different job in mind for her, one in hyperbarics.

“I remember it so well,” she said. “I gave her a look and said, ‘What is that?’ I had no idea what it was. She explained it to me, and said they’d take care of everything.”

Everything included a two-week training course at Ohio State University, and after 19 years on the job, she could easily teach that class.

“Out here, we breathe 21% oxygen,” she said. “When the patients are in the chamber, they’re breathing 100% (oxygen). And it’s pressurized, so it shrinks down the oxygen molecules and they attach to the red blood cells and help the wound to heal faster. It grows new cells, helps kill bacteria and reduces edema (swelling).

“I love doing what I do because I get to connect with the patients. My patients come every day, Monday through Friday. They’re in the chamber for two hours a day, and they come for six to 12 weeks. So, we build a relationship, we build a bond. Talking every day, I get to hear about their families. I get to know them. It’s not just ‘Room so-and-so down the hall needs something.’ It’s a person.”

She’s thankful that the hospital allows her to work in that type of environment.

“It’s just a good place to work,” she said. “They look after the employees. Tom Williams is the type of person that I feel like could email him directly if I needed to. My field is specialized, and there’s not many that do that. So, I’m kind of in my own area in the wound center.”

When she’s not helping patients in the Wound Care Center, she’s helping to fight food insecurity in Johnston County.

Her husband, Ray, leads the Homeless Outreach Ministry at the Temple Dream Center, and that has helped her put her office and business background to good use.

“I had no idea what that looked like for me,” she said. “All the food was moved to our house. So, we had to take care of the packing of the food, keeping up with donations and how much food goes out. That became my part. The computer job of keeping up with it all.”

The program distributes about 50 meals twice a week, and it has been a rewarding experience for her.

“The more we do it, the more enjoyment I get out of it,” she said. “Being able to help those are in need. This really aggravates me. You hear, ‘They need to get a job.’ Well, some of them are working. But they’re working minimum-wage jobs, and they can’t make it.”

In addition to her career and ministry work, Williams enjoys singing as a member of the Johnston County Community Choir. She lives in Micro with Ray, and the couple has two children, Tim and Alicia and six grandchildren.