Photo by Amy Cherry Peg Swanson, CRNP, (third from left) presents Maggie Schreiber (second from left), co-founder of the Guardian Angel with a donation from the Tri County Nurse Practitioner Association. Also shown in the photo on the far left is Mary Lee DeFrain, CRNP and on the far right Paulette Schreiber, CRNP.

By Amy Cherry

Staff Writer

    To kickoff National Nurse Practitioner Week which began Sunday, Tri County Nurse Practitioner Association has chosen to reach out to the communities they serve.

Members voted to make donations to various local charities of which the Guardian Angel Center in Kersey was chosen.

    The organization started out with members from Elk, Jefferson and Clearfield counties and now includes practitioners from Clarion, Forest and Cameron counties as well.

    Located on Main St. in Kersey the Guardian Angel Center was founded by and is still under the direction of Margaret (Maggie) Schreiber and Rose Ann Kronenwetter. The center provides items of clothing at no charge to area families in need.

    During the center’s 2009 Back to School Program, volunteers provided items to 350 families. This year 623 school age children were outfitted with over 2,500 pairs of new jeans and tops, 612 pairs of new brand name shoes, over 2,000 pairs of new socks and over 200 new book bags.

    The Center provides needed clothing items to any family with four or more children, any family who receives assistance of any kind including WIC (Women, Infants and Children) or food stamps, any single parent, or any referral from a social service agency or church.

    Nurse practitioners are advanced practice nurses who provide high-quality healthcare services similar to those of a physician. They diagnose and treat a wide range of health problems ranging from acute care, adult and family care, gerontological, neonatal, oncology, pediatric, psych/mental health and women’s care as well as manage acute episodic and chronic illness to patients of all ages and walks of life.

    Solutions to the Primary Care Shortage is the theme of this year’s National Nurse Practitioner Week, running until November 14.

    Nurse Practitioners work in many areas of the community such as healthcare offices and clinics to emergency rooms. There are over 125,000 licensed nurse practitioners in the U.S. These individuals are skilled clinicians who teach and counsel individuals and families and communities which is a major part of their practice. They place strong emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention.

    Approximately 8,000 new NPs were prepared in 2008. The 2008 average salary of a full-time NP was estimated at $84,250 across all specialities and settings.

NPs also hold prescriptive privileges in all 50 states including controlled substances in three states. NPs write approximately 556 million prescriptions annually.

    Eighty-eight percent of NPs have graduate degrees, 92 percent maintain national certification, 39 percent hold hospital privileges with over 96 percent prescribing prescriptions writing an average of 19 per day.

    The Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners (PCNP) is made up of regional groups throughout the Commonwealth, one of which the Tri County Nurse Practitioner Association is a member.