WTOC Top Teacher: Elizabeth Hartley

BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - She spends her days in the classroom and her weekends in the Emergency room. This teacher is teaching things in her class that could one day save your life.

Elizabeth Hartley teaches Southeast Bulloch High School students about the various pathways they can take to get into the medical field.

“I have a background in nursing and I also have EMS. I started as an EMT, then I went into emergency medicine nursing, but I also know that is not for everybody,” Hartley said. “So my goal with this program was to show students that there is a fit for everybody in health care, somewhere.”

Hartley is in her fourth year of teaching but still has her heart in health care.

“I actually still work in the E.R. on the weekends, come work with them on the week. All the time they will ask me what I saw on the weekend, what did I do or learn. That’s why I wanted to stay in the health care field, because you are forever learning,” she said.

And that’s what Hartley wants for her students—to keep learning too.

“When they get that ‘oh, I get it’ and that sparks go off, I’m like yes, and I just want to cheer for them, like a cheerleader on the sidelines. I get so excited, everything just clicks and sinks in, and I’ve done my job. I love that,” she said.