MOULTRIE – For the past two years, each week Elisha Crean (DO ’27) has left her husband and four children in Titusville, Florida, to travel to Moultrie, where she is a medical student at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine’s South Georgia campus.

Her children — ages 22, 16, 10 and 11 — understand that mom is studying to become a physician.

“I know my older children definitely support me being who I want to be and recognize that it’s never too late to kind of follow your dreams,” Crean said. “I hope this imparts upon them to always follow their dreams and what they want to do in life. As for my younger ones, I think they realize that mom isn’t around all the time, so that’s been a sacrifice.”

Most supportive of all is Crean’s husband, Steven, who is juggling the role of both parents. Especially, caring for their youngest children.

“I told him it was his turn,” she said. “When the kids were younger, he was in the Air Force, so there were times when he was gone.”

Early in their 24-year marriage, her husband’s military career took them across the country. He completed two tours in Afghanistan as part of airborne rescue before medically retiring from the Air Force and switching to a civilian career in law enforcement.

During that time, Crean began her career in real estate as a leasing agent and then, as a property manager. However, she always wanted to work in the medical field. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences at Eastern Florida State College, while working full- time, she realized that becoming an osteopathic physician was her calling.

“I found out about PCOM South Georgia by accident,” she said. “I was doing clinical shadowing at my children’s pediatrician’s office and there were students from PCOM South Georgia there who were doing their clinical rotations. They told me about the school. I started looking into it and realized how close it was. Then I looked a little further and realized some of the clinical rotations are in Florida, which is what I wanted to do. When I visited the campus, I absolutely loved it. I knew that this is where I wanted to be.”

While the past two years have been difficult, her academic endeavor will soon be closer to home. In June, when Crean becomes a third-year student physician, she will begin clinical rotations at New Smyrna Beach. It is about a 20-minute drive from Titusville.

For Crean, the osteopathic medicine philosophy fits perfectly into what she believes.

“I’m actually a Chickasaw native,” she said. “For me, medicine isn’t just treating symptoms and going to the doctor and getting medication. The whole body approach is what I believe in fully. And I feel like, especially being Native American, we believe in a more holistic approach. And also thinking of the Spirit, you know that it all works together to heal yourself. The DO approach fits those same parameters.”

Crean said she will be 50 when she graduates from PCOM South Georgia. So what is it like to be a 47-year-old medical student?

“It’s kind of invigorating in some ways because I’m finally getting to focus on what it is that I want to do, what I want to be, and push myself to be that,” she said. “I never thought that I would be here…There’s been a lot of sacrifice involved, but I know it’s worth it in the end.”

Crean said even though she’s older than most of her classmates, she’s never felt out of place.

“Everybody’s supportive,” she said. “Everybody’s interested in what’s going on with my family, especially our class. We are one big family. We all support each other. We may not see each other all the time or hang out with each other all the time, but at the end of the day, we’ve got each others’ backs.”