By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Friday was Sharon Ewing’s last day on the job as a billing clerk for Marion County Home Health Care in Marion.

She isn’t retirement age but retired early to help care for her mother, Clare Kerns, and spend more time with her grandson, Landry.

Ewing has been involved in the health care industry almost her entire life. She moved to Marion with her parents in 1971.

As a 14- and 15-year-old, she worked as a candy striper at St. Luke Hospital and Marion Manor for two years. Candy stripers were volunteer aides who wore red and white-striped pinafores.

When she turned 16, she applied for a nurses’ aide job. She worked through high school in the West Wing at St. Luke Hospital, now known as the Living Center.

After working as an office clerk for the city of Marion for three years, she began working at the hospital as a part-time clerk in the nurses’ station.

She moved to home health as billing clerk in 1981 and has been there ever since.

“I grew into the job,” Ewing said. “That was when home health care was getting started. I typed claims on a typewriter.”

Ewing said her job was stressful at times, but she enjoyed worked with the nurses, home health aides, and therapists involved in home care.

“They really are caring,” she said. “Their patients are like family.”

She is married to J.R. Ewing, whom she met when he was running C&M Café in downtown Marion. They married in February 1988. J.R. is head of the radiology department at St. Luke.

Home health is transitioning to electronic medical records, and Ewing said it was time for a change.

“They need somebody younger,” she said. “Home health is growing more and more. People are starting to realize the importance of keeping their loved ones at home. Other options are more expensive.”