A trio of nurse practitioners set to open up a local operation later this month view their move to Princeton from Trigg County as more than happenstance.
For Mary James and her partners in Princeton Family Care, Rita Hight and Chantay Stallins, the relocation was an act of providence.
James has been a nurse practitioner for more than 20 years, first working in Princeton with Dr. Wayne Hodge, then serving in Christian, Todd and Trigg counties, including a stint at Hopkinsville Community College as a nursing instructor and department coordinator.
For the past 12 years, she has worked at Trigg County Primary Care, the clinic she founded in Cadiz.
But after 12 years, the environment there was not what it used to be, she said.
“I was unhappy in Trigg County, and had been for a while,” she said.
At the same time, though, James was reluctant to start over, with 20 years of her career behind her.
“I should be looking at retiring,” was the thought, she said, “not starting a new business.”
Meanwhile, in Princeton, the stage was being set for the transition, with the end of one man’s medical era.
Dr. Frank Giannini, a mainstay in local medicine for decades, passed away in April 2007 at the age of 91, active to the end.
“When Dr. Giannini died, it left a huge hole in this community,” James said.
After his passing, his office building on South Jefferson Street sat unused.
James continued to labor in Trigg County, searching for an answer. “One night I prayed, ‘Lord, give me a sign,’” she said. “And the very next day, Bridgie Miller called me.”
Miller owned the building where Giannini’s office was located and offered it to James as a potential clinic site.
For Reva Harper, the nurse assistant who has worked alongside James for two decades of her career, that out-of-the-blue phone call in early November was the answer.
“I said ‘Mary, we got a sign,’” she said.
With that, the nurse practitioners began planning for the move to Princeton. They first looked at Giannini’s offices but determined that major renovations would be necessary to make them suitable for use as a family care site.
They ultimately settled on a building at 110 West Market St., next to Travis Jewelers in the middle of downtown Princeton.
The staff remains the same in Princeton as it did in Cadiz: James, Hight, Stallins, Harper and medical office workers April Colson and Kim Watkins.
“We know we can work together, because we already have,” said Hight, the youngest of the three practitioners.
Hight was working in the critical care unit at Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Hopkinsville, pursuing nurse practitioner’s certification, when a nurse there suggested she call James about a preceptorship, a 1.5-to-2-year program where a student completes several hundred hours of unpaid work under a certified, established nurse practitioner (who acts as a mentor, or preceptor).
“I’ve been with Mary ever since,” she said. Hight graduated from the program in December.
Stallins, of Princeton, met James while employed with Caldwell County Hospital Home Health and was one of James’ students at the Trigg County clinic.
She now maintains a full-time job as a professor of nursing at Madisonville Community College and works part-time as a nurse practitioner.
Their partnership is supplanted by Harper’s years of experience as a nurse assistant and the familiar faces of Colson and Watkins in the office. “I want people to know that they’re here,” said James. “Actually, they are the first ones that people are going to see.”
The practitioners hope to remain here long-term. “As the practice grows, we want to eventually buy a lot and build a new office,” said Hight.
James will work until she is ready for retirement. Stallins has six years left in her teaching career before she is eligible to retire and become a full-time practitioner, and Hight is just beginning her career. “She’s going to be here a long time,” said James.
The clinic will open on Monday, Jan. 21. Patients can register for appointments by phoning the office at (270) 365-2494 beginning Monday, Jan. 14.
An open house is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18.
The clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Two practitioners will be on duty at all times, seeing patients of all ages, for treatment of both acute and chronic conditions. All major insurances are accepted.
The clinic has hospital privileges and, while independently owned and operated, collaborates with Dr. David French and Dr. Carl Hinton.
The physicians and officials at Caldwell County Hospital have welcomed the nurse practitioners and their staff with open arms, a rarity in some communities.
“They sought us out,” said Hight. “It’s unusual for doctors to do that for nurse practitioners. And they don’t even ask for anything in return.”
“We’ve been blessed,” said James, “which really makes me believe —
“ — we were meant to be here,” said Hight, finishing the sentence.
Lovell said the hospital was getting calls “left and right” about the new clinic.
The practitioners too, say their former patients, from Trigg, Christian, Todd, Lyon and Caldwell counties, are keeping their phones busy as well.
The group extended thanks to the hospital, the community and all the volunteers who are helping get the clinic off the ground.
Special thanks was extended to Claudia Sowell, director of the St. Luke Free Clinic, for providing the practitioners with contacts for a variety of donated or discounted medical equipment.
“They’ve really been good to us,” said Harper. “Everybody has.”
