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Clarke native Ian Burge enjoys work with hospice program in Fairhope This is reprinted from a recent edition of The Mobile Press Register. Burge is the son of Vicki and Bill Burge of Jackson. Ian Burge started his career following in his father’s footsteps, but it wasn’t long before he decided to make a change. “My dad owned an auto parts store in Jackson, so I was a natural at that,” the Clarke County native said. “I started working part time (at Auto Zone) while I was in school, and I quickly worked my way up to store manager.” But Burge wanted a different career path, and eventually made what he described as a difficult decision. “I originally wanted to get into the work force very quickly, so I made the big decision to go into nursing and enrolled at Bishop State Community College,” he said. “I worked two years with my associate’s degree in nursing (as a registered nurse), and then I completed my bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Mobile.” Burge began with the elderly population in Mobile and was able to use his skills in nursing and management. “I got the opportunity to specialize in managing nursing homes,” Burge said. “Mobile has a large nursing home population and my job was making sure we were providing quality care and making sure the directors and nurses and everybody was on the same page.” It was a tough job, but Burge found it rewarding for several years. In September, he made the move to Fairhope to work with the Mercy Medical Baldwin County home care program as a Hospice patient care manager. “It’s tough being a manager now because I miss seeing patients every day,” Burge said. “But I’m really excited about being here on the Eastern Shore.” And he’s pleased with the services offered through Mercy’s program. “Hospice care is not really about death at all,” Burge said, “It’s about the best quality of life you can attain and providing comfort not only on the medical side, but also on the spiritual side.” Burge said his services offered at Mercy are for the patients and their families. “We have a chaplain on staff and social workers to help with family disagreements or financial issues they might be facing,” he said. “We also have up to one year bereavement services for families where they can meet with professional counselors or chaplains.” The program also offers pediatric hospice care, which is rare,” Burge said. “We are one of the only hospice programs that do pediatrics “ he said, ‘We have pediatric home care that may be for patients aggressively fighting cancer or just premature infants who need to gain weight.” The pediatric branch accepts Medicaid, but also has annual fundraisers through its Guardian Angel Program to help support the program’s outreach. “It enables patients to come home from the hospital who otherwise might have to stay for long periods,” he said. ‘We’re really proud of that as well.” In his spare time, Burge enjoys exploring his new location, and his wife and two kids are always with him. “The weekends go by so fast, so I really like to be with my family and spend time with my children,” he said. “We like to go to the beach or to the park. We recently visited Blakeley State Park because we’d never been there before.” And looking back, he’s glad he made the switch to nursing.
“It’s a profession that gives back,” he said. “I always feel like I’ve had the chance to do something meaningful with my work day.”
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