During the 2024-2025 school year, Bishop Manogue gained a new community member and school nurse, Devon McCarthy. Her expertise and passion for nursing have left a lasting impact on the students at Manogue. McCarthy’s journey into nursing was one full of personal experiences, resilience, and a strong passion for helping others.
McCarthy’s choice to pursue nursing was paved by her personal experiences that began in her youth. Between the ages of 12 and 19, she underwent multiple surgeries, ranging from ACL surgeries to back surgeries. “I tore my ACL and injured my L4 and L5 discs in my lower back during a powderpuff football game in high school that resulted in two more surgeries.” A big challenge she faced was when she developed osteomyelitis in her jaw after her wisdom teeth surgery. “I also had my wisdom teeth removed, and 4 weeks post-op op I was having extreme jaw pain.” She had to undergo two procedures, jaw surgery and a surgery to place a PICC line. and six weeks of self-administered IV antibiotics. She had to hook herself up to the medicine 4 times a day, “I had to hook myself up to the IV antibiotics four times a day in high school,” Additionally, a few years later, she had stomach pain that led her to an emergency surgery to have a ruptured appendix removed.
Even through every hospital stay and surgery, McCarthy found comfort and inspiration in the compassionate nurses and doctors who treated her. “All of my experiences in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices were nothing short of amazing,” she recalls. “The compassion and support I received from the nurses and doctors absolutely made me want to pursue a medical career.”
After her experiences in the hospital, McCarthy knew she wanted to study medicine after high school. “After high school, I knew I wanted to study medicine,” she said. She enrolled in college as a pre-med student, but she soon realized that nursing aligned more closely with her passion. She earned a degree in psychology before going to nursing school. “I think my psychology background has absolutely shaped my nursing career,” she said. She then went on to work at St. Mary’s on the med/surg unit, where she cared for people with a wide range of diseases and issues such as addiction, withdrawals, paraplegia, pot op, gang members who suffered gunshot wounds, postpartum mothers who lost babies and had to deliver stillbirths, psychiatric patients, and cancer patients. After St. Mary’s, she went into a hospice where she cared for elderly patients and families navigating death.
Now at Bishop Manogue, McCarthy loves and cares for students. “I see a wide range of psych illnesses, chronic diseases, allergies, and medication regimes,” she says. “Nursing is so versatile. I also love how medicine is always changing. You never stop learning, and I think it is fascinating.”
Beyond treating students, McCarthy serves as a mentor and confidant to students navigating physical and emotional challenges. Her main reason for loving nursing is the opportunity to support students and make them feel safe, informed, and empowered. “I like to be a patient’s and family’s safe place,” she said. “No one wants to be in a doctor’s office or hospital, which is why I think it is so important to be a positive light during trying times.”
Beyond the nurse’s office, McCarthy finds balance in personal pursuits. She loves to golf as she spends her summers on the greens of Lake Tahoe, “ During the summertime at Lake Tahoe, I love to go golfing. It clears my mind.” She has also recently taken up running and finds joy in solitary activities that clear her mind. But above all, she loves to spend time with her family. As her children try new sports and find their passions, she loves to be their biggest supporter and cheer them on from the sidelines.
Overall, for McCarthy, nursing is more than a career; it’s a passion and a purpose. Whether she is diagnosing an allergy, treating a headache, or guiding a student through a difficult diagnosis, she thrives in being a “safe place” for those in need. Her journey from patient to nurse is an inspiring story. The students at Bishop Manogue are lucky to have her compassionate heart expertise helping them through any ailment.
As McCarthy said, “It’s fun to figure things out. Looking at the whole system -the big picture- that’s what I love.” In the big picture at Bishop Manogue, Devon McCarthy is a vital piece of the puzzle, and we are beyond lucky to have her be a part of our community.
