Recent Letter to the Editor of the Bellingham Herald

This letter was published in the Bellingham Herald November 17, 2012.

Nurse practitioners fulfill a critical role in providing primary, acute and specialty health care in communities across the country, including Whatcom County. They often go unnoticed for their unwavering devotion to those they care for in their time of need.

There are over 155,000 nurse practitioners in the U.S. and over 4,500 in Washington State. Whatcom County nurse practitioners partner with patients to help guide them to make educated health care decisions and healthy lifestyle choices in a variety of arenas.

National Nurse Practitioner Week, Nov. 11-17, provides all of us an opportunity to thank the nurse practitioners in our lives and also serves as an important reminder to appreciate the nurse practitioners we will cross paths with in the future.

Nurse practitioners are informed, in touch and involved, making them the health care providers of choice for millions and a solution to the primary care crisis in America.

Christine Anderson