By DEREK REDD

WHEELING — Emergency medicine is a high-stakes, high-intensity field in which seconds can be crucial to a patient’s outcome.

Dr. Raina Burke of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital has been in love with the field since medical school and has spent nearly two decades in practice in the Friendly City. She has seen plenty in those 17 years, but loves having the ability to help those who are suffering through their most critical moments.

It was something that intrigued her even back in her teenage years. Burke said she long has had an interest in helping those who needed it immediately.

“I knew if somebody was really sick … I always wanted to know what to do,” she said. “Even when I was in high school and when I did my undergrad at WVU, I was always like, I want to be that person that, if there’s some kind of disaster, I want to know what to do.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree at West Virginia University, medical school came calling, first at WVU and then at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she moved with her husband Steve right after the two married. At Wayne State, Burke said she got hands-on experience in an emergency room, and that’s where she was sold on it being her career.

The Burkes loved Detroit, but when they wanted to grow their family, it was back to their hometown of Wheeling, and Burke began her tenure at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. She serves as one of the night emergency doctors there, and said it is very fulfilling to be there to help others in one of their greatest times of need.

The injury doesn’t need to be catastrophic, she said. Just being able to comfort someone and lessen their pain is a satisfying feeling.

“What gives you the most satisfaction is when you find that you really help somebody,” she said. “It may be a simple thing. Someone’s got a kidney stone, and it’s like the worst pain they’ve ever had. So we get them some pain meds, and I can’t tell you how thankful they are for that

“So it’s just little things like that,” Burke continued. “Diagnosing a heart attack, just holding someone’s hand before they go to the cath lab. Those little things are just sprinkled in through things that might not be so satisfying for me, but probably it’s really satisfying for the patient and their family.”

That mindset has influenced other parts of her practicing medicine. Burke said she always wants to make sure her patients receive as complete a battery of medical care as possible. She doesn’t want to miss a diagnosis, especially in an emergency situation. So she makes sure that, with whatever the patient’s chief complaint may be, she orders the imaging or the lab test that could rule out a diagnosis.

She also makes sure to call at least one patient she has seen on each shift to check on their progress, especially if it’s someone she was significantly concerned about.

With the stress that comes with the job, Burke said she has found ways to relieve it. She and her husband are now master gardeners. The family also enjoys traveling, not just around the country but across the globe.

That’s a piece of advice she’d give a young woman entering the emergency medical field: Find time to enjoy life outside of the hospital.

“I would say that you definitely have to carve out some time for yourself, because otherwise you would get very overwhelmed. And then I would say just believe in yourself and everything will be OK.”