When she took report from the elderly night nurse in PACU she was told that the only patient in the unit at that time was a man in his late twenties who had experienced a pelvic exenteration in relation to a traumatic leg amputation in the motorcycle wreck. In layman’s terms, all the organs of his pelvis and lower abdomen were ripped out when his leg was ripped off in the accident. He was being held in PACU as a quiet place for him to die. Unfortunately, he was wide awake and knew everything that was going on. Ms. Holvey felt horribly inadequate in not being able to help him and not knowing what to say to him. After making small talk for a while, the sterility of the circumstance was interrupted by a telephone call. It was the volunteer in the surgical waiting room. She said that all his friends had made donations to the blood bank and wanted to know if there was anything else they could do. The sudden realization that this unfortunate young man had friends in the hospital but was lying in a room all alone was devastating to Ms. Holvey. She instructed the volunteer to show the friends how to get to the PACU and to send them all up. The volunteer tried to nicely warn Ms. Holvey that these men weren’t typical “friends” but were motorcycle gang members. And possibly very dangerous. To Ms. Holvey they were her patient’s typical friends and nothing else made any difference. The ten or so “friends” came to

the PACU as Ms. Holvey had directed. Grown men dressed in black leather and looking tough, but this day they all wore sad faces wet with tears. She would never forget the appreciation the dying young man and his biker friends showed her that day. Never be afraid to help hurting people in any way you can.

Carolyn Sue Holvey’s nursing career took her to several different hospitals in several states for a little over a decade. Her goal remained the same, to help people in any way she could. In 1991, she returned to Glenville, West Virginia and began working at the nearest hospital in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This provided a unique experience for her. For her entire career she had worked in places where her patients were all strangers, she didn’t know any of them. Now, she knew or was familiar with most all her patients. They were friends, relatives of friends, or people she had known as a child. This was especially burdensome for Ms. Holvey because she felt she had an extra heavy expectation of helping her patients.

In 1995, Ms. Holvey became the first healthcare provider hired as an employee for what was then West Virginia Workers Compensation Division (workers compensation has since gone private in WV). Here she trained the case managers that handled the claims, as well as the private physicians that performed disability evaluations. She planned, developed, implemented, & evaluated policies within the Worker’s Compensation environment. Ms. Holvey also coordinated the activities of the Office of Medical Services (all physicians, pharmacists, & other healthcare providers worked by contract, not employment) with other compensation units, private providers, government groups, WV Medicaid, PEIA (WV state employees’ healthcare insurance), Health Care Advisory Panel (made up of various private healthcare providers appointed by the governor), Administrative Law Judges, the WVWC Commissioner, and the Governor’s office. Finally, Ms. Holvey provided complex case management of medical cases that dealt with high dollar amounts of more than $250k. While her experiences with workers compensation provided constant opportunities to help people, it also opened her mind to the fact that a large portion of injured people are not receiving adequate healthcare due to their lack of understanding and/or legal representation. To be able to help these people Carolyn Sue Holvey had to make a career change.

In 2000, at the age of 42, Ms. Holvey moved to Morgantown, WV and became a fulltime law student at the West Virginia University College of Law. As a student, Ms. Holvey volunteered in the WVU Law Clinic providing legal representation in the WV Family Law Court to those that could not afford representation. She graduated in 2003 with a Jurist Doctorate (JD) degree and passed the WV State Bar examination a few months later. Upon graduation Ms. Holvey accepted the position of Trial Lawyer with what was then the top plaintiff’s firm in West Virginia. Ms. Holvey’s practice involved civil litigation, primarily personal injury and wrongful death. She eventually opened a private practice, C. Sue Holvey, PLLC, continuing to focus on personal injury, wrongful death, and medical negligence. She was able to utilize her extensive nursing experience to obtain justice for all clients. In 2014, Ms. Holvey retired. Her hard work and diligence had served her well. In eleven years of legal practice she did not lose a case. The vast majority settled out of court, which is a big win because the client does not have to endure a long and painful trial and the high cost of trying the case is avoided. However, when the only way justice could be obtained is through a trial, Ms. Holvey was ready and never lost. Her practice was not limited to WV, but also appeared as co-counsel in multiple cases outside of WV. Her twenty years of nursing experience along with her legal training and experience put her in a very unique and favorable position when litigating personal injury, wrongful death, and medical negligence cases.

Carolyn Sue Holvey spent eight years as a Member of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Board of Governors. She was appointed by the Governor of West Virginia and approved by the Legislature. Ms. Holvey was the first Trial Lawyer to become a member of the WVSOM Board of Governors. Here Ms. Holvey provided direction and oversight for a nationally ranked and state owned school of medicine. As a member, she was responsible for setting educational goals, approving educational activities, and evaluation of educational goals. She was also responsible for planning, development, evaluation, and approval of policies, procedures, budget, and management of the school of medicine.

In addition to her service on the WVSOM Board of Governors, Ms. Holvey has worked closely with several non-profit associations. Additionally, she has made various presentations both at Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Continuing Medical Education (CME) seminars on a state and national level. She is a member of the WV 4-H All Stars, WVU Alumni Association, and WV Farm Bureau.

Carolyn Sue Holvey is the proud mother of two daughters, Burke and Samantha, and grandmother of two awesome grandsons, Joel and Eli. Burke is also a graduate of WVU with a BA in Agriculture Education. She currently produces and shows various cattle breeds and market goats. Burke owns and manages a farm in West Virginia having various types and breeds of cattle, goats, horses, pigs, and poultry. She also works in the healthcare field. Burke is the mother of eleven year old Joel and nine year old Eli. Both boys are very active in sports and 4- H. Ms. Holvey’s youngest daughter Samantha graduated from Campbell University with a BA in Communications and George Washington University with a graduate certificate in Political Psychology. She is also a graduate of Brown University’s prestigious Healthcare Leadership Masters program. Samantha was an all-state athlete in high school and while in college she was crowned Miss North Carolina USA 2006. She is the author of The Stairway to Heaven is Not ADA Compliant, her personal story of grit, faith, and overcoming paralyzation from the rare disease Guillain-Barre Syndrome. She has been featured on CNN, NBC, CBS, BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and more. Samantha is mommy to her new fur baby Frank.

Carolyn Sue Holvey currently resides in Weston, WV.