Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, February 16, 2023
President Jackie chaired the meeting.
Guest Speaker
Program – Chair Linda introduced the guest speaker Travis Sheppard, a nurse practitioner who besides being is a nurse educator is one of the founding members of the Nurse Practitioner and Wellness Clinic, NPHWC based in Corner Brook. Travis gave his presentation using the NPHWC web page as a base to explain the role of a nurse practitioner.
He was joined by Lacey Sparkes and they both spoke to Rotary. The third founder of NPHWC is Lawrence McCarthy.
The three nurse practioners had all received their B.N degrees from Memorial University after studying at the collaborative nursing program offered by Western Health Regional School of Nursing and Grenfell Campus. Travis and Lacey received their Master of Nursing- Nursing Practitioner degrees from Memorial University while Lawrence received his from Athabasca University
The vision of NPHWC is to provide innovative and dynamic solutions to improving health and optimizing wellness of Newfoundland and Labradorians.
The mission in their clinic is to strive to increase access to timely and accessible primary health care and wellness services across the lifespan contributing to a more effective and sustainable health care system.
The clinic was established in 2022 with much groundwork being done the previous year. They value professional excellence, leadership, accessibility, innovation, collaboration, self-determination, and professional identification.
NPHWC is funded by themselves and is a private clinic as they were unable to receive funding for services from MCP.
The services offered by the Clinic as primary health care providers covers non-urgent medical concerns and the nurse practitioners can diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, prescribe medications and treat a variety of health care conditions. Travis and Lacey spoke in more detail of the services offered by NPHWC.
The clinic since opening has been very well received and about 100 people each week are seen.
Travis and Lacey answered questions before being thanked by Verbon on behalf of the club for their informative and interesting presentation.