On November 14 at 2:00 pm at the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas, LT Barbara Sterrenberg, U.S. Navy Medical Officer Recruiter, will present the free program, “U.S. Navy Careers and Recruiting”. LT Sterrenberg will use pictures and stories to demonstrate how women from many different walks of life have received professional support, recognition, and financial help to continue and complete their medical degrees in the U.S. Navy.
Some of the recruits’ stories she will share are: a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, a Pharmacist, a Registered Nurse, and a Physician Assistant. LT Sterrenberg had a somewhat unusual career path herself, coming into the Navy at age 47. She stresses that age is not so much an issue in certain specialty areas of the military as is having the qualifications, experience and competence to take care of the medical needs of our country’s sailors. Sterrenberg says, “It is not all about being on the front line. It also includes those providing for the medical needs of our service members.”
LT Sterrenberg is a native of Bath, North Carolina, is a registered nurse, and 2001 graduate of Pitt Community College, receiving Masters of Science in Nursing from in 2014 from Walden University in Minneapolis, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Grand Canyon University in 2017.
She worked in the clinical areas of medical/surgery and oncology during her years as a civilian nurse. She worked as an Education Nurse Specialist for Vidant Medical Center from 2014 until she received active duty orders in 2017. In this role, she actively covered the education and competency requirements for 12 clinical units (over 800 nurses, nursing assistants, and techs) within the medicine division.
Sterrenberg began her Navy Reserve career as a direct commissioned officer, drilled at Navy Operational Support Center in Wilmington, NC, and performed her annual training at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego. In 2017, she went on active duty orders to Knoxville, TN., as a Medical Officer Recruiter, to assist in fulfilling quotas for a much needed and vital area of medical in the United States Navy.
Sterrenberg received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2015) for her role as the CME nurse planner for the Operational Medical Symposium held at Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune. Sterrenberg was awarded Medical Officer Recruiter of the quarter for three quarters for FY 2019 and is in the final running for Medical Officer Recruiter of the year. This accomplishment has put Sterrenberg as a top medical recruiter with Navy Talent Acquisition Group Nashville. Along with Sterrenberg’s active duty commitment, she also continues to provide nursing education and training as a Clinical Nurse Instructor for a BSN program and is an adjunct professor for the Nurse Practitioner program at Carson Newman University.
Her November 14 program is part of the museum’s month-long program to honor women in the military. For more information, please call 828-884-2141.