Dr. Brenda McGivern has joined the staff at Demopolis Pediatrics with Dr. Stanhope Brasfield at Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital.

McGivern is a doctor of osteopathy who came to Demopolis from Tulsa, Okla. She went to medical school at Oklahoma State University after graduating from Cameron University in Oklahoma, and did her residency at the University of Oklahoma.

McGivern, who is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, began her Demopolis practice in February.

“Last year, after several years of practice, I decided to retire in order to spend more time with my granddaughters,” she said. “However, after a year of retirement, I found that I missed seeing patients and decided to resume my practice. I moved back to the Southeast to be near my parents and siblings.”

A native of Counts, Tenn., McGivern attended Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) before getting married and raising a family. She returned to school and completed her degree at Cameron.

“I had always wanted to go to medical school, but felt that babies and medical school were mutually exclusive,” she said. “I had earned a bachelor’s degree in science and business years earlier, and as the boys grew up, I began to realize that I could still have medical school.”

Her children are now grown, with Sean serving as a chemist with Maryland’s NIST Institute, and Ryan is an information technology specialist with the tax commission in Oklahoma City.

Coming here from Tulsa presented a bit of a change of pace, but that was something that she wanted.

“I love not having traffic, and I love being able to just call up and getting things done on that day or the next day,” she said. “I’m so used to waiting.

“Everything is rush-rush in Tulsa, and I’m still in that mode. I do everything fast; I feel like I’m rushed doing everything. I rush when I don’t even have to be rushed. It’s just a habit I’ve gotten into, one I hope to break here!”

When she gets spare time, McGivern enjoys reading and has several other hobbies like scrapbooking and beading.

Although she didn’t take the usual course to a medical degree, Dr. Brenda McGivern found her calling, enjoying herself in a job she loves. Working in a small-town atmosphere that she enjoys, she seems to have found a perfect fit in Demopolis as well.