HOMETOWN HERO By Scott Cutlip CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ANGIE BYERS
Patients Come First The COVID-19 outbreak has brought many challenges, especially to medical professionals. Angie Byers, a nurse at Greenwood’s Mercy Clinic, knows as well as any. Although many in the community know and like her, she still has received the occasional wary look when she would go to the store in scrubs. “I’ve learned to change my clothes before I leave,” she said, laughing. Despite circumstances like this, Byers loves her life as a nurse, even through these trying times. “Being a nurse, especially in this time, is really a great blessing,” she said. “I do it for my heart. My patients are definitely a
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big part of my life. I’m probably more blessed now by my patients than I ever had been before.” Byers grew up in Washington state and moved to Arkansas as a sophomore in high school. She graduated from Mansfield High School in 1993. She attended Westark (now University of Arkansas Fort Smith) to receive her nursing degree in 1999. After working in a nursing home and a dermatology clinic, she started at Mercy Clinic (then the Bailey Clinic) in 2006 and has worked there ever since, currently working with Dr. Lance Barton. According to clinic reviews online,