providers.nort...
I am Michelle Peterson, a family nurse practitioner. I can see anywhere from babies all the way up to geriatric patients.
Being a family nurse practitioner, you really get to have a whole appreciation for the patient. You get to know their family, you get to know everything about them and what's involved in taking care of them.
The first time I see a patient, it'll be an introduction. We get to know each other. You get to see how you think, how you feel, how I think, how I feel. I really work with more preventative medications and preventative lifestyles. But overall, if you need sick visits and you need help along the way, as our bodies can always get something happens to them. So we're always available for sick visits as well. But really just getting to know your background and kind of what you're looking for as far as conservative medications or if you're really into aggressive therapies, those types of things. So just really getting to know the person is the most important thing at the introductory visit.
Prevention is everything with medicine. Just as far as our lifestyle choices, our exercise choices, immunizations, those types of things, screenings, those will all keep you, in the long run, healthier throughout your lifestyle. And try to stay away from chronic illnesses or get ahead of the game as far as trying to be healthy earlier before those illnesses set in. And then as far as management goes as well, just those long-term trajectories of being healthier longer.
I'm originally from Oklahoma. I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in nursing. Graduated about 25 years ago, was a nurse for 20 years before pursuing my master's degree. We moved to Kentucky in 2017 for a job opportunity with my husband and I decided to pursue my master's degree in nursing. And I've been a nurse practitioner for about three years now.
For fun, I like to race sailboats up the Ohio River on Wednesday nights. You can look for me out there. That is one of my passions and my hobbies.