On-reserve NP a first

For the first time ever, Sudbury’s Wahnapitae First Nation has hired a full-time NP. “There was always a health centre here, and they did have some nurse practitioners who would come out on a contract basis,” says Rebecca Foreshew, the new primary care NP who will serve the community located within the city boundaries of Greater Sudbury. Foreshew previously worked at Health Sciences North and is now practising out of the reserve’s Norman Recollet Health Centre. She collaborates with the centre’s foot-care nurse and community wellness worker. “I’m the only nurse practitioner and there is no collaborating physician,” she explains. “You don’t necessarily need a collaborating physician, except when you need to order a CT or MRI, but a lot of the time the patient would be under specialist care at that point anyway.” Foreshew, who is originally from Sudbury, has experience working in Indigenous health. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working in remote and rural communities, and I think my end goal was always to work on a reserve,” she says. (The Sudbury Star, Nov. 4)