ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brenda Lanier was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia.  She is the third of seven children who are blessed to still have their parents.  Since childhood Brenda enjoyed helping people and always felt that she should become a nurse.  She attended nursing school just outside of Atlanta, Georgia graduating in 1970.  Her work as a registered nurse began in Atlanta from where she went to Altus, Oklahoma for her first assignment with the United States Air Force.  During this assignment Brenda attended flight nurse training in San Antonio, Texas and earned her flight nurse wings.  From Altus she was transferred to the U.S. military referral hospital for the European theater in Wiesbaden, West Germany.  During her 2 ½ years there, she achieved the rank of Captain.

Brenda chose to take an honorable discharge from the military in 1977 because her life priorities changed after meeting the love of her life, Jack H. Lanier, Jr., during her first Air Force assignment in Oklahoma.  They married in 1975 and enjoyed serving together in Germany.  Jack was transferred in 1977 to Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida where Brenda worked at the local hospital for two years.  Upon Jack’s discharge in 1979 the couple lived in Snellville, Georgia for six years during which time their two sons, Jack (Jay) H., III and Brent Andrew, were born.  Brenda continued to work in the hospital there until Jack accepted a new job position in Longview, Texas in 1985 where she again gained employment and, over the years, worked in both local hospitals and the out-patient surgery facility.

Brenda’s hospital work experience includes primarily operating room with some time in general med-surg patient care, geriatrics, emergency room, and infection control/employee health.  She also has extensive teaching experience in basic life support (CPR) and first aid, OR technician, and vocational nursing.

Though she has been in the work force for more than 40 years, Brenda feels that her work in helping people is not finished.  She has aspirations of volunteering to teach individuals to read, write, and do math.  Stay On Track is just one more way Brenda seeks to help others both with becoming more informed about their own health so they can make better choices and live healthier lives, and to have information available to present to physicians and other health care professionals to help them provide higher quality and greater continuity of medical care.  This is where her vision for Stay On Track comes in.  It is that someday every newborn baby will have a Personal Health Information book started and continued throughout life.