An avid traveler, nurse practitioner Betsy Coblentz decides where to go in a unique way.
“My son and I love to travel,” Betsy said. “We pick really weird places to go and see things. Like, a couple years ago, we wanted a Cuban sandwich, so we went to Miami and had a Cuban sandwich.”
Betsy said she and her son enjoy the exploration, whether it’s to the northern lights in Iceland or to the hiking trails 30 minutes from home. In her free time, Betsy also loves being outdoors or curled up on her porch with a cup of coffee in hand, deciding on the next journey – she’s contemplating a trip to the rainforest in Costa Rica and giant rocks in Norway once the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.
Until then, her focus is on her patients. Betsy said she always knew she wanted to be a nurse, and her approach is to treat patients the way they deserve to be treated.
“When I was 3, I used to look at books in the library about [nursing], and one year, I was Florence Nightingale for Halloween,” Betsy said. “I knew this is what I wanted to do.”
Betsy started her career as a bedside nurse in 2006 at Saint Joseph East, and with the help of the organization, she has been a nurse practitioner with CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group – Primary Care in Berea and Richmond since 2013.
“Saint Joseph has been very supportive of me going back to school over and over,” Betsy said. “I got that bug again and just finished my doctorate [in nursing practice] in December.”
To complete her doctorate, Betsy focused on screening for depression in a primary care environment. The patients she serves in Richmond don’t have readily available mental health care, she said. And while patients from different counties have varying issues, mental health concerns are common among her patients.
“There’s so much need for mental health,” Betsy said. “I think I have it in my heart as something I feel I’m being called to do.”
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