Fannin County, Texas -- At first glance, Melanie Hardy may seem like the quintessential Fannin County girl -- she comes from a military family, loves horses, hiking, fishing, gardening and enjoys quiet mornings with her husband, Brian Hardy, in the peaceful, rural life that comes with living in Ivanhoe, Texas. Surprisingly, though, she is originally from Rhode Island and spent many of her formative years in Florida fishing the flats and deep sea fishing with her father.
"My dad often took me fishing and those are some of my favorite childhood memories," Melanie recalls fondly.
These days you can find Melanie working alongside Dr. Jim Froelich as a certified Family Nurse Practitioner at Family Care Clinic in Bonham.
Melanie knew from an early age that she was destined for a career in the medical field. Her very first "job" in a hospital was a volunteer position at the age of 15, where she helped transport patients to radiology and showed visitors how to get around the hospital.
"I knew I wanted to work in the hospital immediately," she says.
One of Melanie's aunts worked in a nursing home and thought her niece would benefit from the experience, so she brought her onboard.
"I became a CNA and loved working there," Melanie shares. "I realized how much I loved helping people and I knew I found my purpose."
After graduating from nursing school at the University of Miami, she gained experience working in many different areas: Cardiac ICU at Miami Children's Hospital, ambulatory surgery, neurosurgery, Pediatric ICU, Neonatal ICU, and the emergency department.
So, what brought Melanie to Texas? It was horses.
"I moved to Texas because I had been on the road showing horses for years and felt bad for my horses with the amount of traveling we were doing," she says.
When most people think of equestrian sports in Palm Beach County, Florida, it conjures up visions of polo, dressage and show jumpers, but that's a completely different world than the one Melanie found herself drawn to.
"I competed nationally in American Quarter Horse Association events, mostly ranch horse versatility events," she explains.
"For 10 years I knew I wanted to come to Texas but I wanted to wait to get my son, Zachary, through college first," Melanie stated. "He continued to play soccer in college so we were always on the go with either the horses or sports. He is now grown and the CEO of his own company....I always say that he is by far my greatest accomplishment!"
In 2021, Melanie made the move to South Texas.
"COVID had really hit hard and they needed help," she says. "I was working at a rural hospital in Alice, Texas."
But the Gulf Coast was a long way from family and friends, and, once again, horses were part of the reason Melanie decided it was time to pull up stakes and make a move.
"I chose Aubrey, Texas because it was close to a lot of really good horse trainers and people that I know and love," Melanie remarks. "At that time I was working at Medical City McKinney and met the man who is now my husband -- Brian. God sure did bless me with a great man! One of the first things Brian asked me when we met was, what brought me to Texas? When I told him it was horses he looked shocked. He thought I rode jumpers or hunters, which I did when I was younger. When I told him I showed in ranch horse versatility events, he couldn't believe it."
When Melanie first came to Bonham with Brian and they drove by Family Care Clinic, she told her husband, "I need to meet them."
When it came time to find a preceptor for her practicum hours, she spoke with Deidre Froelich, the office manager at Family Care Clinic, and Deidre set up an appointment for Melanie to meet with Dr. Froelich.
"Our first conversation lasted nearly two hours," recalls Melanie. "We understood one another rather quickly and I knew that I could learn a lot from him. He is extremely knowledgeable and loves to share that with people. From the moment we all met, the Froelich's have treated me like family...which means the world to me because I am far from my own family. I am blessed to have them in my life and for the unwavering support they have given me from that very first meeting."
Veterans will quickly learn to appreciate Melanie. "I am a firm believer in taking care of our veterans," she states. "As a nation, we do a terrible job of taking care of them properly and I hope, in some way, I can improve that." Melanie says that she is always happy to assist students that are following in her footsteps into a career in the medical field. "I enjoy teaching and love to be a source of encouragement for those pursuing a degree in nursing or the medical field -- though nursing will always have my heart," she admits. "It is still very much a female-dominated field, although it has changed a bit, and they still tell students that 'nurses eat their young.' I can't stand that! We need to be kind to one another and help encourage and teach this next generation of nurses; life and the job are hard enough without adding more stress on to them. So I will always do my best to make myself available to students because nursing has been great to me."
