Patricia Dunn, 43
Nurse Practitioner,
Open Door Family Medical Centers
After Katrina I went down to coastal Mississippi as a volunteer Red Cross nurse. It was hands-on patient care. I hadn't had that working in management -- that was just a job. I didn't have the passion. So I applied to Open Door in November. They didn't have a fulltime position, but then I got a call that they had gotten extra funding through the stimulus.
Now when I'm working Saturdays, I'm going to be able to see the walk-ins. Before, the chief medical officer was working alone and could only see scheduled patients. Other patients would have to go to the ER. Changing that is huge. I see patients from the cradle to the grave. I can see a three-day-old for a weight check, and then the next patient might be a geriatric patient with a heart condition and diabetes. In the next room, you'll go in to a well-child visit. And in the next room there's a tick bite, or somebody's got a Q-tip stuck in their ear. The whole family can come to one provider, and the provider can get to get to know the whole family.
NEXT: Sonya Liadis, 46
