Hometown Family welcomes nurse practitioner

Currently in her third year with the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program with the University of Arizona, Ashley Jones has joined the staff of Hometown Family Medicine to complete her clinical hours needed for graduation next year.

Jones, a 2002 graduate of Reardan High School, has always been interested in the family nursing field and has a desire to continue with rural health care as her primary focus after graduation. She currently lives in Spokane, but commutes to Ritzville two or three days a week to assist Dr. Marty Sackmann and complete her 1,000 hours of clinical experience.

While Jones is enrolled in the DNP program through Arizona, it is an online course that allows her to only have to travel to Arizona a few times a year and remain in the state of Washington. Jones has always had a love for Eastern Washington, and hopes to continue her career with rural medicine in the area when she becomes a certified nurse.

After graduating from Reardan, Jones attended Eastern Oregon University and earned a Bachelor of Science in biology. She continued on to Washington State University to earn a Bachelor of Nursing degree.

After completing her Master’s degree, Jones began researching colleges to complete her DNP program with. Since WSU did not have a DNP program, she enrolled with the most established DNP program in the U.S. at the University of Arizona.

Jones explained it was an accelerated program and she willingly began taking courses through the program. When it came time to begin her clinical hours, she reached out to Dr. Sackmann, who she had met and knew about from when she attended high school in Reardan.

“I like working in this setting, you get to care for and get to know your patient,” Jones said. “There’s a certain amount of care and compassion.”

Jones said working along Dr. Sackmann has been a tremendous learning experience and an opportunity to delve deeper into the field. She said he takes the time to explain the diagnosis to patients and is always open and honest, which are two traits she hopes to possess in her future in the medical field.

While working along Dr. Sackmann, Jones takes the history of the patient and completes the differentials. Since she still has to complete her board certification, she cannot participate in the procedural portion of caring for the patient, but attends procedures at the approval of the patient to learn from Dr. Sackmann.

Aside from working on the farm growing up, Jones worked as a long-term caregiver and also works at a rehab clinic in Spokane. She said as a young kid she knew she wanted to go into medicine, and has now determined rural practice is the best fit for her.

“I love working with the extremes, with geriatrics and kids,” Jones said. “Geriatrics, I grew up with that, and kids, I just love working with kids.”

She began working part time in the clinic in January, and said working in rural health care is truly her dream. Her final dissertation project next year will be focused on rural health care or family practice, she explained.

Jones said it is getting harder to find individuals interested in pursuing a career in rural health care, and she is anxious to take her boards and help fill the void. While the appeal for working in a small community has always been there for Jones, she explained many nurse practitioners have a more specific focus or interest in working in larger hospital facilities.

The experience at Hometown Family Medicine has been extremely positive for Jones, and she enjoys working with coworkers as much as she enjoys attending to her patients. Like in every rural town, Jones said, everybody has been friendly, accepting and welcoming of her to the community. She is especially appreciative of patients allowing her to work with them during their treatments without any hesitation.

As an individual who loves a challenge and enjoys being tested intellectually, Jones said the best part of the job is working with any kind of abdominal pain or learning about disease processes. The abdominal diagnosis has to be worked for, and the challenge and learning that takes place while finding the issue is something Jones enjoys.

Jones will continue to work with Hometown Family Medicine throughout the summer to finish her clinical hours. She estimates she sees between 10-12 patients on a busy day, and enjoys the diversity of her patients.

“I get to see such a range of patients, it helps better prepare me for the future,” Jones said.

Jones said there are a lot of opportunities and options of national programs in rural communities, and she hopes after graduation, she can continue to serve rural communities in the eastern portion of the state and expand her expertise in the rural family practice field.