Caring for children, teens, adults and seniors in West Tennessee for more than 10 years at the Brownsville Medical Clinic, Elizabeth Graves brought her role as a Nurse Practitioner to Tennova Walk-In Clinic, 1270 Union University Drive in Thomsen Farms.
WNWS.COM visited with Elizabeth for a Question and Answer session about her position and a growing medical community.
Question: Could you give us some background information on yourself, home, family, education, how long you’ve been with Tennova, and what factored into your decision to join Tennova?
Answer: I am a West Tennessee girl originally from Newbern, born and raised in Dyer County to a wonderful family.
Both of my parents were teachers for over 35 years, and my father is also a proud veteran in the Army National Guard who served in the Gulf War.
They raised me in a supportive, Christian home and instilled the virtues of hard work and excellence in education from my earliest years.
After graduating from Dyer County High School, I completed both my undergraduate and Master’s education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Through hard work and dedication, I was able to graduate with Valedictorian honors in both high school and my Master’s nursing classes. I am married to my high school sweet heart, and we have two beautiful and busy young children.
My family and my faith is my greatest support and daily inspiration. I have just recently started the next step in my career with Tennova Medical Group in January 2018.
Their commitment to all aspects of patient care, convenient new location and hours at Thomsen Farms, and schedule conducive for my family made Tennova Medical Group the right fit for me.
Question: As a Nurse practitioner, would you define your duties?
Answer: As a nurse practitioner, my primary goal is health prevention, patient education, treatment of acute illnesses, and management of chronic health conditions.
As a family nurse practitioner I see patients across the lifespan from birth to end-of-life.
I have grown accustomed to managing very complex and comorbid patients – as this area has a significant population at high-risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.
I have always taken a special interest in educating people to be more informed about their disease, making healthier lifestyle choices, and overall improving their health.
Question: How difficult was your decision to leave Brownsville?
Answer: My decision to leave my prior job was not an easy decision, nor one I took lightly.
I served that community for over 10 years and made meaningful relationships with both my patients and co-workers.
I cared for families across generations that I grew to deeply care for, and leaving them was a very difficult decision, but a decision that was necessary for my family.
I was trained by a wonderful physician there and co-workers that supported me throughout the start of my career.
I am thankful for the trust given to me by those I cared for and the relationships formed during my time there.
Question: How did you develop a special interest in preventive care and managing chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and emphysema?
Answer: Helping patients be informed of their comorbidities and illnesses only empowers them to have better control over that disease and be more self-sufficient in managing it.
It requires a team effort between the health care provider and the patient to manage each health condition.
Watching people suffer the consequences of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity is very difficult when there are means to improve their health and hopefully prevent such complications.
It is also very rewarding to have patients succeed and live healthier lives due to the holistic care we are able to provide them.
Question: Tennova Healthcare Walk-In Clinic in Thomsen Farms has been open about six months. Would you tell us about some of the features Tennova offers at this new location?
Answer: We are a full-service primary care office as well as walk-in clinic. We treat all ages from children to elderly and treat all acute and chronic health conditions.
We are able to do physicals, sports exams, well woman exams, radiologic testing, laboratory bloodwork, as well as schedule any diagnostic testing needed. We are a full-service shop!
We offer extended hours through the week and are open half a day on Saturdays for patient convenience. Our new office is expanding to make even more room for excellent service to our patients.
Question: How important is it for the patient to know that the walk-in clinic is part of Tennova’s regional healthcare network?
Answer: Being connected to our local Tennova hospital, which is so close to our office provides us an excellent opportunity for easy access to diagnostic testing, emergency room services, quick laboratory results, and access to excellent specialty physicians when necessary.
Tennova has proudly served this community for many years and to have an extension of that hospital at our new location is a great benefit to our community and its people.
I know Tennova will continue to be committed to excellent patient care, and I am excited to be a part of this group!
(PHOTO: Elizabeth Graves)
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