What nursing means to caregivers and a community in a small town

About 18 miles southwest of Billings, Montana, sits Intermountain Health’s Laurel Clinic in the small city of Laurel. The clinic is supported by a small care team, including nurses who love providing their family and friends in the small-town area with the best healthcare.???

“I’m partial to small towns,” Kellie Depuydt, a nurse practitioner at the Laurel Clinic, said. “I wanted to raise my kids in a town where I knew everybody and where they're not just another number in the classroom or player on a team.”???

Kellie grew up in a small town on her family’s cattle ranch and enjoyed the sense of unity it brought. She now lives in a small community in Columbus with her family and loves seeing everyone turn out for events and visiting their hobby and animal farms. During the summer, her family raises pigs and gets a kick out of their tenacious personalities.??

“I love having pigs,” she said. “They’re like stubborn 300-pound toddlers.”??

But how did a cattle ranch girl from a small town become a nurse? Well, just like the lyrics to a country song, she left Phillip County and went to the big city to become a nurse. Since then, Kellie has worked at various small-town clinics around Montana and later returned to school to become a family nurse practitioner to help people in areas that have limited access to specialized healthcare. She knew that with this added education, she could provide experience, knowledge, and skills that would help many since specialty caregivers and larger facilities are not within driving distance.?

“We are in a unique position to be leaders because we are forced to figure out ways to help patients when we do not have the resources,” Tiffany Conklin, another primary care nurse at the Laurel Clinic said. “We make it so we have the supplies or education to provide the best care.”? ?

Kellie’s healthcare experience growing up was going to see a friend’s mom or a relative who happened to be a caregiver in town, which is unique in small-town care.?

“We have to be able to think around problems, utilize diplomacy, and develop friendships to navigate roadblocks,” Trish Little, a primary care nurse at the Laurel Clinic, said. “We advocate for patients more readily, because we have close contact with them, and we’re viewed as friends whether we realize it or not.”????

A few of the ways Kellie uses her knowledge to advocate for her community is by teaching online classes to nursing students and as a Chairwoman on the Board of Health in Stillwater County. This position allows her to provide recommendations on ways to improve public health for those in the community outside the clinic at a higher level.??

However, even without the government titles, small towns are seen as leaders because they’re helping to maintain the health of their literal neighbors, family, and friends.?

“It is amazing to care for your son’s elementary school teacher or the local waitress because you’re making a difference in the lives of people you know and care about,” Kellie said. “But that also means you are more emotionally invested in the patients and their families when there's bad news or outcomes.”??

But even when those bad outcomes hit close to home, the small team of nurses comes together and support each other, as they continue to do their best work so community members can continue to strive in their roles.?

“Nurses are in a position to influence positive change because people trust us,” Kellie said. “People trust nurses no matter the setting, whether it’s a large city or small town because caring for patients is the mission of all nurses."???