Overseas Tragedy Alters Career Path For Oklahoma Nurse, Drill Sergeant

Events that happen thousands of miles away can sometimes change the course of our lives here at home; that’s exactly what happened with an ER nurse at St. John Broken Arrow.

Scott Scammahorn began his career as a paramedic and is now an ER nurse at St. John in Broken Arrow.

"I was going to nurse practitioner school as a critical care nurse practitioner, that's what I wanted to do my training in," he said.

Scammahorn has also been in the Army Reserve for 25 years as a Drill Sergeant and now as a nurse he teaches combat first-aid.

Everything changed for him on March 11 of 2012. That was the night in Kandahar, Afghanistan that Army Sergeant Robert Bales put on his night vision goggles, hiked to a village and killed 11 people then hiked to another village and killed five more.

Scammahorn wasn't there, but believed if there were more or better mental health services available it might have helped Bales, and might have prevented the tragedy.

"I did some soul-searching. I started reading about the Kandahar Massacre and I changed my mind, I decided to go into mental health," he said.

Scammahorn studied full time for a year and part time for two more years while continuing to work at St. John Broken Arrow. Last week he graduated as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

"There are still a lot of hoops to jump through in order to eventually practice," he said.

There are a couple of months of exams and certifications, but he's anxious to get going because, he said, the need is so great.

Once Scammahorn is certified, he'll work at Family and Children's Services and be assigned to the Combat Stress Unit at the Army Reserve Center in Sand Springs.