LED TO DO "WHAT I WAS BORN TO DO"
"...Be a nurse, you will always be able to find a job"
By Joan Tupponce

RN Carol Baltz Norman can’t remember wanting to be anything but a nurse.

“My daddy would tell me ‘Carol, be a nurse; you will always be able to find a job,’” she recalls.

Norman applied to Richmond Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in the fall of 1975 while she was senior in high school. She entered the program in August 1976. After graduation, she worked at Richmond Memorial Hospital.

“I strongly believe that each one of us has a God-given talent that he gives us to use during our life,” Norman says. “More than once I have been shown that my purpose in this life is to be of service and care for others, especially in my community.”

Norman is now the owner of Town & Country Health Services & Supplies in Montpelier and Ashland Medical Supply Inc. in Ashland. She is also a certified mastectomy fitter. Fittings are offered in Montpelier and in Ashland by appointment.

“Restoring these women to their pre-surgical shape is what makes this a passion for me,” Norman says.

The Richmond native started her career in home health after working for seven years at Henrico County’s Elizabeth Adam Crump Nursing Home, which was owned by Beverly Healthcare at the time. She transferred to Beverly’s home health division in 1987.

“That began the greatest journey in my professional life so far,” Norman says.

Not long afterward, she stepped into the role of division manager.

“I got to learn firsthand how to run an office and I learned the business side of home health,” she says.
In 1989, after learning that the home health side of the business was being sold, Norman negotiated with the company to purchase the provider’s numbers for the three home health offices in Virginia. Twenty days into negotiations her youngest brother, Curtis Baltz, was killed in an industrial accident.

“That ended my quest,” she says. “I had one child at the time, then 13 months old. I decided I would stay home through the holidays and the remainder of the winter and find a job in the spring.”

At her brother’s funeral, Norman was greeted by a woman who said she lived in the neighborhood. The woman shared with Norman that she had also lost her brother. She told Norman it had taken her three years to get over her brother’s death and that Norman should give herself that much time.
In January 1993, about three years later, while working in Richmond for a home care business, Norman walked through a darkened auditorium.

“Restoring these women to their pre-surgical shape is what makes this a passion for me.” Carol Baltz Norman, RN

“I heard a voice speak to me telling me now is the time to start your business,” she recalls. “I went to my office, got out the phone book, looked up the number to the licensure and regulation office and called for the regulations. In one week I had rented an office in Ruther Glen.”

On March 31, 1993, her brother’s birthday, Norman was out promoting her business when she stopped at the Beaverdam Quick Stop. She started talking to the woman behind the counter and recounted the story of the woman who had given her hope and peace at her brother’s funeral. The woman looked at her and replied, “I’m the woman who was at the funeral home that night.”

“I knew from that day that I was guided and directed on a course to do what I was born to do,” Norman says.

Norman started Town & Country Home Health Care with her mother, Jean Baltz, in April 1993. A year later, the two opened Town & Country Health Services & Supplies. The company provides home health care such as skilled nursing, physical and occupational therapy and home health aide services as well as durable medical equipment and mastectomy products. Norman merged Town & Country Home Health Care into her current business in 2001.

The transition from nursing to owning and running a business proved challenging in some ways. “It was difficult at first to talk to someone about what it was going to cost them directly for services,” Norman says. “When you work in a big institution you really don’t think about the bottom line when you are using supplies or assisting with a procedure.”

One of the biggest challenges that Norman faces today is finding qualified field staff to treat patients. “I am always looking for therapists and nurses,” Norman says. “Currently, I am looking for nurses especially.”

Helping patients and teaching caregivers how to care for their patient is gratifying, Norman says. “Sometimes it’s the simplest things that I teach, like how to turn someone in bed. It’s such a rewarding experience. I have been able to provide care to a rural community and also provide employment opportunities to people living in a rural community.”

Norman now is running the business and also seeing patients each day. “My goal for the future is to continue to run my business and be a little less involved in patient care so that I can manage the business side of things,” she says.

“One thing I do know about this business is that the patients trust you so much. They trust your judgment, look forward to your visit and hold so much faith that you will take the very best care of them.”