Clinics Closed Thanksgiving Day

The Mount Ida clinic will be closed Wednesday, November 23.

All Healthy Connections clinics in Arkansas and Colorado will be closed on Thursday, November 24, for Thanksgiving.

The Mena (136 Health Park Lane) and Hot Springs Central (3604 Central Ave. Suite D) will be open from 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, November 25. All other Healthy Connections clinics will be closed on Friday.

If you have questions, please call us at 888-710-8220.

Celebrating National Nurse Practitioner Week

Every day, nurse practitioners (NPs) are saving lives and improving the health of our friends and family. This includes our fantastic nurse practitioners who are a part of the Healthy Connections Community Health Network.

To honor their efforts, Healthy Connections, Inc., and Evolve Behavioral Health and Medication Management are joining healthcare organizations across the country in celebrating National Nurse Practitioner Week.

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) provide a wide range of care to America’s patients in more than 1 billion visits annually. This year, the NP Week theme is “NPs: Going the Extra Mile,” which offers patients the opportunity to share their stories about the positive difference an NP has made in their life. NP Week recognizes the contributions more than 325,000 licensed NPs make to the health of patients nationwide.

At Healthy Connections, our nurse practitioners work in primary care, specialty services, and behavioral health. Nurse practitioners are part of our provider team at all of our clinics across central and western Arkansas.

Across the country, nurse practitioners have become important in bridging the healthcare gaps that have left many without care over the years. These clinicians, who blend clinical expertise with an added emphasis on disease prevention and health management, play a critical role in educating patients on ways to improve their mental and physical well-being.  Nurse practitioners assess patients, order and interpret tests, make diagnoses, and provide treatment, including prescribing medications.

Find a Healthy Connections nurse practitioner by visiting https://healthy-connections.org/providers. Call 888-710-8220 for appointments.

To learn more about nurse practitioners nationwide, visit www.wechoosenps.org.

October Employees of the Month

October can be spooky and scary. But to these employees, it was a treat. Congratulations to our Healthy Connections October Shining STAR Employees of the Month.

(DRUMROLL)

WEST: JENNIFER KESTERSON, APRN

EAST: DENISE YANEZ

Each month across the Healthy Connections Community Health Network, exemplary employees are nominated for this award for representing our Three Pillars: Excellence, Compassion, and Community. These pillars are considered heavily when choosing winners.

As winners of this Shining STAR award, Jennifer and Denise are winners of a $50 gift card.

Jennifer is a Family Nurse Practitioner at the Mena clinic. Denise is a Patient Care Coordinator at the Hot Springs Chippewa clinic.

  • “Jennifer strives for excellence with her patients and staff. She listens to her patients and coworkers to the point where her patient list has grown in the last two months greatly. She is always at work and giving 110 percent.”
  • Denise does so much for the providers and is a great teacher. She has helped me learn a lot in a short amount of time. Denise also helps out our patients by going above and beyond for them, especially our Hispanic community. She is excellent at her job.”

Congratulations to both Jennifer and Denise.

Thanks again this month to everyone who nominated an employee. There were a lot of great nominations. Do you know who should be our next employees to be recognized? You can nominate them by visiting https://www.healthy-connections.org/nominate.