Practitioner bringing back small town medicine

This spring, Troy is set to have an in-town practitioner who can serve family practice needs in the community, from the sniffles to managing chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.

With plans to have her practice on Third Street in Troy open by April or May, Beverly Carbery is a nurse practitioner who can write prescriptions, admit to a hospital and follow her patients once they are admitted.

Carbery, who is specialized in family medicine, said that patients will be able to come to her office at 302 B Third Street for any of the kinds of complaints they would take to a general practitioner.

Yet, in an era when medicine may feel less personal than the past, she also plans to be able to bring her practice to her patients when they need it.

Home visits are absolutely necessary, she said. But for larger clinics, red tape and the realities of modern medicine often make them impossible.

“They’re not going to be something that I routinely do for everybody, but for folks that are very ill, or elder, or disabled and can’t get out — especially in this amazing, snowy weather,” she said.

“A hospice patient shouldn’t have to come out of their home to have a provider actually come and look at them, nor should an elder person, or someone that’s truly, really sick,” Carbery said.

Beginnings

Carberry said that her motives for opening a practice in Troy have roots in her childhood. From an early age she knew she wanted to be a nurse, and she has always felt a desire to help others.

“From a young age I’ve had a Christian background — always been a helper,” she said.

Carberry said she has been a nurse for 26 years, and for a long time has wanted to become a nurse practitioner. But, it was only about four years ago that she was finally financially able to undertake the extra education.

Now, she wants to put that to work.

“I have always wanted to be a Patch Adams,” she said. “The community needs someone that’s just going to be there at a whim.”

In addition to conducting home visits, Carbery said she also plans to have a practice with a home-like feel.

Though she is still working on the space on Third Street that will house her practice — she said anyone who sees a car out front is welcome to stop by and visit — she knows what she wants it to look and feel like.

“When you enter the waiting room, it’s very much like a living room,” she said.

For the kids, there will be a play area with an emphasis on activities that will stimulate and engage the children and even educate them.

Carbery said it’s important to her that children who come to her practice not just be kept busy, but that they actually get something out of their play.

Concerning children, she said that is one of the reasons why she plans for the first visit for each patient to be free, and an opportunity for them to get to know her.

Children can find visiting a medical provider frightening, and Carbery said she wants it to be something they don’t have to fear.

“If they can come in and make that first visit fun — and when they’re not sick — and know that person is not someone that’s going to hurt them, and somebody that’s going to be fun to be around and joke with them and laugh with them, the next time that they come in when they are sick, things are going to be much easier to deal with,” she said.

Whole care

Carbery said that she will be open to working with patients, and wants to know what they expect from their care.

“My philosophy is, the patient is the conductor; I’m merely the engineer,” she said.

For someone who wants to take a more holistic approach to their health — such as changes to lifestyle and diet or non-prescription treatments — she can be there to advise and monitor them to make sure that what they do is actually helping and not hurting them.

“Through a provider’s office, there’s monitoring, and if it’s not working or there’s an adverse reaction, it’s caught quicker. There’s not a serious adverse effect where the patient is harmed,” she said.

Carbery said she plans to be open by May 1, though she is aiming for April 1 if possible.

She is working on insurance details, but patients can expect to pay the same copays they would currently for a doctor visit. As with other providers, her rates will be determined by averages of what Medicare and Medicaid pay for similar care.

Anyone interested in finding out more can call Carberry’s office phone number at 406-295-9092 or email 3rdstreetmedical@gmail.com.