The Carlyle Medical Clinic welcomed nurse practitioner Laura Wood more than two weeks ago and she has stated that her time in Carlyle has been enjoyable so far.
Wood who comes to Carlyle with close to 30 years of nursing experience and holds a masters degree in nursing started her new job on Monday, May 13. Her practice throughout the years was in primary healthcare and emergency care services. However, her addition to the Carlyle Primary Health Care team brings with it much needed relief for staff and the community alike. Many towns in southeast Saskatchewan including Carlyle have suffered from a shortage of doctors and nurses, a situation that has plagued the region for a number of years. Wood practiced at a nursing home in Carlyle prior to her appointment but said it was on a casual basis as she was on and off for about four years. She added that, with her time spent in the town she learnt the nature of the town's people and found it to be inviting.
"I'm looking forward to meeting the people of Carlyle and providing them with some services that they are used to and will continue to hopefully provide the same level of service," she said. She shared her excitement in seeing patients and providing quality service to the community and that one of her goals is to promote healthy lifestyles in the town.
"I've always found Carlyle to be very welcoming community and very progressive in their thinking and very health conscious," Wood said.
As a nurse practitioner I'm very much into health promotion and healthy lifestyle, so I'd like to make that my focus here." Wood said that her time over the last couple of weeks has shown her how supportive and welcoming the people of Carlyle are and that the clinic has gotten very busy. However the addition of another physician she said has allowed for the general operation of the clinic to be smooth. She added that the staff is able to balance duties effectively, easing the strain that they experienced less than a month ago.
