Two aunts that were nurses and a broken leg as a teenager in Queens were the elements that helped propel Terry Alexander into a career in the medical field.
Today she is a family nurse practitioner ”“ among the first certified in New York state ”“
and now working in the Cold Spring office of Dr. Cynthia Ligenza of The Westchester Medical Practice.
After graduating from Flushing High School, Alexander emerged from training at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City as a registered nurse and began work in obstetrics and gynecology at New York Infirmary Hospital.
“A doctor recruited me for a neighborhood health center in the Lower East Side,” she says. Terming her fellow public health nurses at the center as “very bright,” she says, “we decided we could do more than we were doing.”
What they did was research nursing laws and practices.
“We found a Frontier Nursing Service out west where they made calls on horseback. We spoke to our clinic”™s medical director. He set up classes every lunch period with doctor instructors.” Alexander remembers with particular affection David Zimmerman, the chief doctor, “who is still a good friend.”
“Shortly after that, Cornell (University-New York Hospital School of Nursing) came up with the Primex program to train nurse practitioners to do what we were already doing,” she says. “They recruited pairs from our group. Those who didn”™t go could take a certifying exam to become nurse practitioners.”
Alexander, then 23, was named clinic nursing director.
She is frequently asked the difference between nurse practitioner and physician”™s assistant. “Both can issue prescriptions,” she says. “The physician”™s assistant must do so under the auspices of a doctor; the nurse practitioner does not need to consult with a physician to prescribe.”
Also, nurse practitioners have two licenses ”“ registered nurse and nurse practitioner.
Not content to rest on her laurels, Alexander pursued a bachelor”™s of science degree in nursing from Hunter College and a master”™s in health administration from the University of Michigan. She has completed course work at Columbia University for a doctorate in public health and “all that remains is the dissertation.”
There followed a period as nursing director and director of clinics for St. John”™s Episcopal Hospital in Brooklyn; then as nursing director at Rikers Island Prison, where she taught nurses to become nurse practitioners and was involved in prison health reform, consulting throughout the nation.
She recalls a severe snowstorm when she walked from Flushing to Rikers Island to fill the void of personnel who could not get to work.
There followed a period as director of the health program with the Spofford Juvenile Center for incarcerated youth in the Bronx, run by Montefiore Hospital.
Subsequently, as director of a prison health program run by St. Vincent”™s Hospital, she was involved in care at the Manhattan Detention complex, also known as The Tombs; at a prison boat in the Bronx and two then existing in Manhattan.
“I wanted to do clinical work,” she says. “I met Dr. Ligenza at a tuberculosis clinic where I worked. I started with her one day a week and am now full time.“
Alexander doesn”™t consider her work “work.”
“I can assist with problems of daily life,” she enthuses, recalling a former patient who introduced her as “the woman who saved my marriage.” Alexander remarks that she merely helped the over-programmed woman face her limitations.
Alexander”™s mother died when she was 9 months old. She grew up in a family of five “his, hers and theirs” children. At age 23 she became, and remains, a practicing Buddhist.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
Interesting article. I have worked with many NP and NPs and PAs do very much the same thing. No truth that we need to consult to diagnose, treat or prescribe.
Dave
She sounds like a remarkably talented and dedicated woman with much to offer. Unfortunately, her statement about the differences between PA’s and NP’s is misinformed. I am an NP and my husband is a PA – he does not have to consult with the physician with whom he is affiliated to diagnose and prescriptions are done with his own DEA number and his own signature.