Janice Epp
It was a Friday morning as I was heading in to work to see patients as a Family Practice, Primary Care Nurse Practitioner when it happened. Coffee in hand, singing along to the radio and if it hadn’t been for the red light, I would not have seen him at all. As the light started to change, I saw out of the corner of my eye a man laying on the sidewalk with another man standing over him talking on the phone. I quickly pulled over and ran back to see if I could help.
I have been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years with most of those years working in critical care, Emergency and Trauma Units, even certifying as an Emergency Medical Technician in Texas. Stopping to help others in crisis has always been easy for me.
It was obvious he was unresponsive, so I quickly got down on the sidewalk and knelt at his head just as another car pulled up and a woman came over with a nasal Narcan kit. The man on the phone was talking to the 911 Dispatch and I answered the questions telling them he had a pulse but was not breathing very well, he had snoring respirations, so I opened his mouth using a jaw thrust while someone gave him the Narcan. Another person stopped with an injectable Narcan kit, and I told her to draw it up and give it.
By the time the Ambulance had arrived, we had given another dose of Narcan and as I rolled him on to his side to get him in a recovery position he started to wake up. I helped him into a sitting position and talked to him as he reoriented himself. I asked him what he had taken, how much he had taken and reassured him he was going to be okay. I gave the paramedics a quick report, determined I was no longer needed and headed back to my car to continue to the clinic.
I brushed the dirt and ants off my dress pants and reflected on how many times I had been on resuscitations. I was overwhelmed with emotions thinking how my nursing career had given me the confidence to help prevent another death in the community that day.
Janice Epp, MN NP Family All Ages
Family Nurse Practitioner in Lethbridge, Alberta
Janice is a born and raised Alberta farm girl who is thankful to be providing Primary Care in Southern Alberta.
Janice works as an independent Nurse Practitioner in the Campbell Primary Care Clinic. She has her own panel of patients but also sees overflow patients from the other physicians in the Campbell Clinics. As a Family All Ages NP, she see all ages of patients with acute and chronic illnesses or injuries. She assesses, diagnoses, prescribes, orders and interprets tests and refers to the appropriate specialty. She collaborates with physicians in the clinic regarding their patients.
This year she started doing more of the longer, more complex visits for physicians to help with their panels so they can see more patients. These visits include pediatric and adult mental health and complex hospital discharges/follow up visits. She also connected with the prenatal clinic in Lethbridge to add mothers and newborns who did not have a primary care provider before the baby was born due to the shortage of Healthcare providers in the area.