Family expanding

Family First is getting a new look.

It already has two new providers, with another to come this summer.

IU Health Jay Family First added nurse practitioner Tracy Laux to its staff last summer and in February brought in women’s health nurse practitioner Tracy Hamrick.

The addition of the Tracys is part of ongoing changes at the practice at the hospital in Portland. The Family First office, located in the center of the hospital on the south side, is also in the midst of a $767,500 renovation and expansion project, and Dr. Colin Good is scheduled to join the practice this summer.

Laux has been with IU Health since 2007, first working as a registered nurse at IU Health Ball before getting her master’s degree from Ball State University to become a nurse practitioner. She worked at Jay County Hospital and then for about five years at West Jay Clinic in Dunkirk before joining Family First in July.

She said it was good to return to the hospital setting in Portland.

“It was nice to come back because all these front staff, back staff, they’re all the people used to work with,” said Laux. “It was very comforting.”

Hamrick was hired in December and joined Family First a couple of months later after taking advantage of some training opportunities. She’s been a women’s health nurse practitioner since 2013 after earning her master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati.

She came to IU Health Jay to help facilitate the new Healthy Beginnings program the hospital implemented last year in an effort to focus on prenatal and post-natal health after discontinuing birthing services.

“I believe it’s going to be very beneficial, especially for the moms that don’t want to make those trips … to Muncie for their prenatal care,” said Hamrick. “Our Healthy Beginnings program here will help incorporate educational opportunities … We can also see preventative visits for gynecological wellness as well as postpartum care.”

Neither Tracy started on the path of being a nurse practitioner.

Laux, a Coldwater, Ohio, native, first thought about being a radiology technician before shifting to nursing and getting her associate’s degree from Rhodes State College. She spent more than five years as a registered nurse before returning to school to become a nurse practitioner.

“I felt like there was maybe something more I could offer,” said Laux, noting that she got more and more interested in the profession as she went on rounds with doctors and observed others in the medical field. “That’s when I thought I could maybe think about going into being a nurse practitioner.”

Hamrick’s career started in an optometry office before she decided that job wasn’t something she could see herself in for the long-term. She got her associate’s degree at Lima Tech (now Rhodes) and her bachelor’s degree at Ohio Northern University before continuing her education at the University of Cincinnati.

“I’ve always loved the one-on-one patient education, the mom/baby interaction,” said Hamrick, who spent eight years as a labor and delivery nurse before deciding she wanted to be involved with patients beyond their short stay in the hospital for delivery. “This way, as a practicing provider, I have a little bit more time where I can establish care with a patient and see them throughout their life stages.”

With the renovated office set to be complete by the end of June and Good to join the practice shortly after, both Hamrick and Laux are looking forward to continuing to see Family First change and grow.

“I’m very excited,” said Hamrick. “I think it’s going to be a whole new atmosphere.”

“It’s exciting,” agreed Laux. “The expansion is going to be really neat. I’m just eager and excited to see what it’s going to be.”