Sarah Claxton is unit coordinator for the Behavioral Health Unit at Mid
Coast.
A single mom with three grown
daughters and a new granddaughter, Sarah practiced nursing all over the United
States before returning to Maine to help her elderly mother.
When her children were young, Sarah worked for a time with a group of
midwives in the rural southern U.S.
She
then moved to the South Bronx to work with Plenty International, an
organization that provided free ambulance services to people in the South
Bronx.
“New York City emergency services were so ineffective at that time that
the people could not rely on getting help when they needed it.
We not only saved lives, but also trained
people to be emergency medical technicians.
Many of them were able to find jobs as a result.”
Sarah’s family returned to Maine, when she entered nursing school at
University of Maine, Augusta.
She
graduated in 1986 with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing.
“Originally, I wanted to be a nurse midwife, but,
during my training, my experience working with Vietnam veterans at Togus
Veteran’s Hospital in Augusta, changed my focus to psychiatric and mental
health nursing.
I have worked in this
field ever since.”
After graduating from nursing school, Sarah moved west again, working
in an inner city psychiatric emergency room, geriatric inpatient and chemical
dependency treatment centers, and adolescent and adult inpatient units in
Kansas and New Mexico.
She was director
of admissions for a 120-bed, urban, adolescent facility, and worked for the
University of New Mexico in a program to provide psychiatric services to
inmates in a large county jail.
In addition to her management duties at Mid Coast, Sarah works 1-2 days
each week providing direct patient care in the hospital’s acute care, inpatient
psychiatric unit.
She serves on the Code
Green Committee, the Computer Users Technology Group, and the Behavioral Unit
Professional Practice Council at the hospital, as well.
In her off-duty hours, Sarah works with A Paw in the Door, a cat rescue
organization, providing a foster home for kittens that are waiting to be
adopted, and assisting with fund-raising activities.
Through SOS, she is also a sponsor for a
little girl in Peru.
“I love my job as a psychiatric nurse.
I enjoy listening to and talking with people.
While many illnesses and challenges are
painful to the patients with whom I work, I feel honored to be part of the
patient’s return to balance.
When
someone tells me that I was helpful to them during their vulnerable moments, I
feel very thankful.”
Sarah is certified in psychiatric and mental health nursing by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the University of
Phoenix in 2008.
Sarah Claxton, RN, BSN, BC