Last Thursday, November 17, marked National Rural Health Day, an opportunity to recognize the efforts of healthcare professionals and volunteers serving in rural areas. In Wisconsin, one in four residents live in rural communities. November 17 is also a chance to celebrate our successes and to highlight the unique challenges rural communities face: provider shortages, an older population, and lack of transportation.

Last year we recognized the resiliency shown by rural healthcare workers during the pandemic. This year, many of the nominations were providers who work in substance use disorder, women’s health, and pain management.

This year’s theme is “Driving change: Going the Extra Mile.” Here is one of our community heroes, nominated by their colleagues, who is “Going the Extra Mile” in rural Wisconsin.

Stephanie Waterman: Family Practice Nurse Practitioner, Western Wisconsin Health Roberts Clinic, Baldwin

Contact: Natasha Ward, Director of Primary Care & Community Health, 715-684-1285

Stephanie Waterman has been a Family Practice Provider at the Western Wisconsin Health Roberts Clinic site, a Rural Health Clinic (RHC), providing primary care, women’s health, pediatrics, and urgent care since 2017.

Stephanie is a dedicated nurse practitioner who provides excellent care to her many patients. She has received consistently high scores when it comes to patient satisfaction. Patients’ comments include:

• “I have been seeing Stephanie for a few years–she is absolutely amazing. I love the Roberts Clinic. Stephanie is so easy to talk to.”
• “Stephanie always takes the time to explain things and go over any questions I have.”
• “Stephanie Waterman is a gem. Personable, knowledgeable, kind, engaging… I could go on and on… I’m so very happy that she will be my new healthcare provider.”

Stephanie also provides great quality care to help her patients achieve their best health; this is exemplified in her quality scores that show she is consistently among the highest performing providers. These scores include a net promoter score of 91.3, breast cancer screening rates of 78%, colon cancer screening rates of 72%, and depression screening rate of 76% which are all well above organizational and national benchmarks.