May 12, 2021
Meet Sarah Rock, RN
Nurse Supervisor, Hand and Microsurgery
Hand and microsurgery is a busy service, but Sarah helps the ship run smoothly. Less smooth, though, is the bumpy terrain you can catch her navigating on the weekends when she races her dirt bike.
Where are you from?
I grew up in Hillsboro, Missouri and have lived in De Soto my entire adult life.
What brought you to Washington University Orthopedics?
My love for orthopedics and wanting new experiences and to broaden my knowledge brought me to Washington University. Dr. Boyer’s caring nature and support has kept me here.
What aspect of your practice do you find most interesting or rewarding?
I love taking care of my patients, and I particularly enjoy working with the challenges of flap patients. Getting to know the patients and their families is a wonderful part of this job.
What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I enjoy spending time with my kids; Alyssa, 13, and Ashlynn, 12, and my husband Jody. I ride and race dirt bikes in HareScrambles, which are dirt bike races in the woods throughout Missouri.
We got into racing because of our nephew. My husband and I helped raise our nephew from the age of 15, who is now 29. My nephew wanted to start racing his dirt bike, so my husband got into racing with him. I watched the two of them race for six or seven years before deciding I was brave enough to try, too. I learned how to ride knowing that racing would come soon after.
Riding became a great stress reliever for me, and my husband and kids and I all enjoy the family time together, as we all ride and race. We typically race once a month and spend the entire weekend at the race site. There are three race series in Missouri for dirt bike hare scrambles, and I have raced each series at different times in my riding history. There are national series for hares scrambles, too, but I have never raced any of those as those racers are really fast!
All three of the series have classes based on skill and/or age, and there are not always many women. Each race has a winner, each class has a winner and each series has a determined amount of races for the season. At the end of the year we have class champions, and I have won the Women’s Class Champion for the year in all three series at one time or another (never in the same year though). My husband has won class championship three times in his ability/age bracket, and my oldest daughter Alyssa has one class championship so far. My youngest daughter has yet to win a class championship, but this may be her year, as she is determined to beat her older sister.
Do you ever get injured?
I wreck my dirt bike often; it is all part of the sport. Luckily I have only been “injured” a few times. I wear every piece of protective gear possible to help prevent injuries and insist that my family does the same. My worst injuries have been a small finger fracture in 2018, a torn left hamstring in 2019, and the worst to date was in November 2020. I had a right-knee ACL and meniscus tear requiring surgery by our own wonderful Dr. Matt Smith. I am currently still healing from this injury, but hope to get back on my bike by the end of summer...as long as my surgeon gives me the go-ahead!
What’s the best advice you ever received?
The best advice I have received came from my mom when I was young: "treat others the way you wished to be treated." I think this is very important in our line of work.
If you weren’t in health care, what would you like to be doing?
If I wasn’t in orthopedics, I believe I would still work in healthcare. I would either work in addiction rehab or with intellectually disabled children.
Sarah's main location is clinic at the Center for Advanced Medicine. Learn more about our hand and microsurgery team, and why patients choose Washington University Orthopedics.