Family Practice & Counseling Network- replicable trailblazers

Posted by: Mikaela Levons in Opinion Blog on Oct 14, 2009 Print PDF

I was taken aback at how difficult it was to gain access to primary health care when I moved to the United States in 2005.  Even in the self-described "Health Care City"  of New Brunswick, NJ-- home to Johnson & Johnson's headquarters, the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital system & St. Peter's University Hospital-- booking time with a medical doctor in a pinch was always a challenge.  Parents who've needed a prescription on a weekend, or desperately wanted to ensure that a cough was 'just a cold,' can surely identify with this experience.

I'm encouraged by what the Family Practice & Counseling Network (FPCN) is doing to alleviate this problem.  The innovation of FPCN is that it takes existing resources-- nurse practitioner expertise and availability-- and leverages them in a new, accessible, and affordable way.  One unique facet of this innovation is its demographic scope:  nurse managed health care centers not only make medical expertise accessible for those of us who can afford to prioritize our health, but it also reaches an often ignored population: Philadelphia's uninsured & low-income residents.  This seems like a great model for other urban municipalities.

As congress debates universal healthcare packages, nurse managed health care offers an implementable, sustainable way of increasing basic health access to all. 

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written by Jenn Atlas, October 14, 2009
Not only is it noteworthy that nurse practitioners reach out to Philadelphia's often ignored uninsured and underinsured populations but the holistic training that nurse practitioners receive is also quite spectacular. Nurse practitioners use a holistic model that addresses patients' mental, physical, and emotional health in a way than is often ignored and underutilized by the dominance of biomedicine today. By developing a true understanding of the community in which they serve, nurse practitioners establish a unique rapport with their patients and are able to provide solutions that fit within the lifestyles of those they treat. Such trust and understanding are absolutely essential when working low-income patients, many of whom have come to greatly distrust a larger government system they see as unhelpful and broken. Hopefully, as more nurse-managed health centers come into being, that system will become less and less broken.
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written by Rachel E Kotok, October 14, 2009
With the face of healthcare constantly changing and the availability of primary care providers in the United States dwindling, I was eager to read about Donna Torrisi and her involvement with the Family Practice and Counseling Network. The opportunity to visit a provider and access services, medications and care is becoming more feasible by the innovation of nurse-managed healthcare. These centers and the nurse practitioners who operate them are truly trailblazers, in every sense of the term. I look forward to their continued efforts to change the face of modern day healthcare.

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