Meet Catherine Luria, FNP

Specialty: Family practice with special interest in mental health
Now living in: Gig Harbor, WA
How long on the board: New member of the transitional board, Fall, 2006.

Current work place and position: Harbor Family Health Associates as FNP partner/owner

Brief work history: I have worked in private practice with my MD husband since 1979 when we opened our practice in Gig Harbor. Prior to that we worked together opening a clinic for an HMO in Port Orchard, WA, and were in the Indian Health Service together. While in Kotzebue, AK (with the Alaska Native Health Service) I worked in both out-patient and in-patient areas of our small bush hospital. In Gallup, NM, I was the NP instructor for the PA program – an interesting title in 1974! At that time there was not much communication between NPs and Pas. I spent a year as faculty in pediatrics at U.of KY and prior to those five years in a neighborhood health center in Rochester, NY.

Why you chose your specialty: I was at the RIGHT PLACE at the RIGHT TIME! I was chosen to go to the new neighborhood health center with the charge of helping to develop a new role for public health nurses. This was in 1969 – 4 years after the first PNP program was developed in Denver, and an exciting time in nursing. We developed the NP role via an extensive in-service program. Barbara Bates, MD taught us physical assessment using the mimeographed version-1 of her future text-book. I was also trained as a psychiatric liaison nurse by the health dept., thus starting my long-term interest in combining family and psychiatric modalities.

My educational background is a bit different in that I have a BS in chemistry and a MS in nursing, from a program which was preparing us for an expanded role without the label. (The program required a BS or BA in a field other than nursing as prerequisite, and then all the nursing was concentrated in the masters.)

Why you volunteered for the BOD: I felt it was time to contribute and wanted to see the organization thrive

What you most care about regarding NPs: I care that we practice in an environment where we can utilize our skills and knowledge to the fullest, and where we can continue to develop innovative roles for NP to help meet the many unmet heath needs of the country. Likewise, I care that we be recognized as a legitimate voice on health care matters by legislators and the public, and that we receive adequate compensation for our work.

Your hopes for AUWS: I hope AUWS can help unite the NPs across WA, and be able to speak with a strong voice, especially in the legislature and as the public voice of NPs.