14 The Hampton Roads Messenger


Volume 14 Number 6 Career and Business Opportunity


Local Students Medical Training Comes in Handy


March 2020


Remembering Hampton Roads Media Professional Byron Burney


day at the departmental office of his university, the phone rang. A local TV station was looking for a student to do some part-time work.


“I was the only one in the office


and I jumped right on that,” Byron said then. “I was the envy of everyone.” He got his foot in the door at WVEC channel 13 and made a career out of it.


Byron worked for nearly 30


Byron Keith Burney SPECIAL TO THE HAMPTON ROADS MESSENGER


Destiny Jones BY CHANCE MEETING For those who study in the


medical field, any day can provide a hands-on testing of their knowledge in the form of a life or death situation. So was the case for medical assistant student Destiny Jones, who is now being hailed as a hero for saving a mans life with her medical knowledge and quick intervention.


Destiny Jones attends Bryant &


Stratton College in Virginia Beach and had just finished learning the first aid techniques that would enable her to save a mans life. Little did she know that the opportunity would come so quickly.


This past August, Jones had just


finished shopping for groceries at a Hampton Kroger store when fate called her to action.


“As I'm coming outside,” she


stated. “I'm putting groceries in the car and I turn over and there's someone in need.” She heard a scream and saw the man on the ground of the parking lot having a seizure. Panicked at first, she remembered her training and began to act. “I realize he was seizing and right away I think the medical in me just kicked in.”


After noticing bleeding immediately the man was


from the mouth, Jones turned him over to


keep him from choking on his blood and then checked his


pulse. After,


she preformed CPR before the first responders arrived. Without her quick action its hard to say that the man would have made it until the paramedics came.


“It was very life altering,” Jones


said. “I feel really good. I'm always on the lookout now just because you never know what's going on around you.”


Tuesday, The American Red Cross


recognized Destiny Jones during their annual Coastal Celebration of Heroes at the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club for local heroes that use their First Aid, CPR, AED training or other actions to save lives and make the community better. She was hailed as a remarkable good Samaritan for the courageous and selfless act that became the difference in a man dying and continuing to live another day.


Bryant & Stratton College this Spring and


Jones is set to hopes


to one physician assistant.


graduate from day become a


Media professional Byron Keith Burney of Hampton Roads, Virginia passed away Friday, February 21, 2020.


Born Dec. 11, 1958, Byron grew up in Norfolk's old Liberty Park neighborhood. He ran track, was on the basketball team and played football as both an offensive and defensive starter.


A graduate of Lake Taylor


High School (Class of 1981) in Norfolk, Byron went from delivering newspapers part time


to being a part of a team that made the at


news happen. the


Hampton University Hampton


Institute) where employee,


Byron studied (then he


received a Bachelors of Arts in Mass Communication. As a student he learned a lot about filming and media and acquired the


eventually help propel him throughout his career. While hanging around one


Hampton Alum against


FROM PAGE 2 diseases in animals, and


advises pet owners about feeding and behavior. She is a veterinarian by training but did not believe private practice was a good path for her, so after completing her fellowship at Emory, she made the conscious decision to become a full-time medical writer in 2012. After some hesitation, Pendergrass finally made the jump from employee to business owner by opening her freelance medical writing business, JPen Communications, in August, 2016. “In 2015, I left my second job as


a medical writer,” she said, “I looked for full-time writer jobs but didn’t find anything I wanted to do.” Sometime later, a friend suggested Pendergrass meet with her business coach in 2016 for some helpful advice. She met with the business coach, but said she was “still on the fence” about whether to continue looking for a full-time job or possibly opening her own business. As a result of the consultations, the coach helped her understand what it meant to work for yourself rather than someone else. Was she apprehensive about becoming a freelance medical writer? Yes, however working with the coach, she said, “changed my mindset” and gave her the confidence to start JPen Communications, LLC.


milestone in her life? and love for education.


in veterinary to


“speak


What helped her reach this Her passion While still


said the professors instilled in their students


school, Pendergrass to pet owners


with compassion.” She didn’t realize her journey would lead to becoming


a medical writer but her professors’ message remained


in her mind’s


eye and helped propel her medical writing career.


Pendergrass said she


became passionate about pet owners’ education and wanted to write about the complexity of veterinary medicine but, but she said, “in a way the public can understand.” Her desire is to assist her readers to “learn more about their own health and their pet’s health” according to Pendergrass. She is not only passionate about her field of expertise but compassionate as well for her readers and their pets. The excitement in her voice is


prevalent and the passion for her work is explicit. On average, Pendergrass writes for approximately two to three hours per article; writes for five to six websites; works, on average, 12 to 15 hours per week; and the articles are usually 500 to 700 words in length. When asked


what advice she


could give young girls interested in the field of veterinary science, Pendergrass opined: “Stay focused on academics; don’t be afraid to love science and math; shadow a veterinarian; stay committed to your dream (there will be many obstacles in your way- people may not see you as the traditional image of a veterinarian); do not be discouraged; and do not be afraid to do something different with your degree.” Pendergrass also advised, “Take


your expertise and degree to do something completely different, if that is your desire.” That is great advice from a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, freelance medical writer and business owner.


skills that would


years at WVEC TV, advancing in the ranks and positions during that period. He went from photographer to chief photographer to operations manager over the course of his time there, saying that his experience at the station was invaluable.


National


Byron was a member of the Association of Black


Journalists and a past president of the Hampton Roads


Black Professionals organization. deacon


Media Before


he passed, he was employed with iSoft at Fort Eustis, Virginia, as an audio-visual specialist. He was a devoted


and musician at


First Baptist Church East End and a proud brother of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated. "Byron was one of my mentors in HRBMP when I was sophomore at NSU majoring in Mass Comm. He helped me get my first job at WVEC," said Eric Harrell, State Director of Marketing & Communications at Bryant & Stratton College.


Baptist


On Friday, February 28, First Church East End held a


Celebration of Life in remembrance of Deacon Byron Keith Burney, the things he accomplished, and the lives he touched along the way.


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