Houser new FNP at PC Hospital

The Phillips County Hospital and Family Health Clinic (PCHHC) welcomed it’s newest Health Care Provider on Monday, October 1.

Family Nurse Practitioner Elke Houser and her husband Jim have moved from Helena to Malta to fill one of two vacancies left at PCHHC. Houser is originally from a small ranching community in California similar in size to Malta.

“Our house bordered grazing lands. We had rodeo horses, rodeo stock, beef cattle, and everything,” Houser said. “I didn’t grow up in the ranching industry, but right next to it, literally. The cows would get out and I remember waking up and we would have a steer in our back patio.”

Houser was attracted to the job because the Phillips County area was similar to her hometown.

“It was a very small town of about 2,000 people,” Houser said. “I graduated from high school, left the town and joined the Air Force. I ended up living in Germany and then Alabama.”

Houser spent 13 years in active duty and six years in the National Guard.

“I was a lab technician at the time,” Houser said. “I had a computer background prior to that in the service. I was IT and I did computer software testing and analysis when I was in the Air Force.”

It was during her time in the National Guard that Houser started studying health care.

“At that point in time, that’s when I went to nursing school,” Houser said. “During that time I was able to work and go to school and raise my family at the same time. It was a challenge but we did it.”

Houser recently received her Family Nurse Practitioner Master’s of Science Degree through Chamberlain University in Illinois this past June. Prior to her Master’s Degree, Houser had graduated with her Bachelor's Degree at Jacksonville University in Florida, after receiving her associates at Troy University in Alabama.

According to Houser, Nurse Practitioners are often referred to as a Mid-Level Provider and as she sees it, the position is a bridge between nurses and physicians. She said a Nurse Practitioner is an independent practitioner with specialized training to be able to provide health care services to patients similar to a physician.

“We can diagnose, we can prescribe, we can manage chronic illnesses. However, if specialty services are required then we can refer to a higher level,” Houser said.

Those higher level physicians are typically out of the county. Houser went on to say that nurse practitioners are also qualified to do some advanced procedures.

“Based on the level of training that we have received,” Houser said. “That training can include joint injections, female health care procedures. We can reset bones and dislocations.”

According to Houser, the role of nurse practitioner was created in the 1960s.

“The role of the nurse practitioner was to bring advanced health care to rural communities,” Houser said. “That was the purpose of the position because there was a lack of physicians to be able to provide health care into these communities.”

Being from a rural community, and moving to Montana several years ago, Houser zeroed in on what she wanted to do as a career.

“That is exactly why I decided to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner because when I moved to Montana, I saw the need,” Houser said. “I am doing what I went to school for and I am where I wanted to be.”

Being a Family Nurse Practitioner gives Houser flexibility as to who she can treat.

“I can treat any patient from the cradle to the grave and all life stages in between,” Houser said. “I do not deliver babies and I am not a midwife, however, I can do routine prenatal checkups in the instance that something needs to be done.”

As far as previous experience, Houser has had a lot of experience working in health-care in various situations.

“I have worked in an emergency environment for several years,” Houser said. “I started off as an intensive care nurse. I have done hospice care in the past, I have worked for the Department of Corrections. I have been in management areas. I have a pretty broad scope of experience.”

Some of her other experience includes travel nursing in critical access areas and working at level one and level two trauma centers in bigger towns and cities.

“I am looking forward to a very long and continued relationship with the members of this community and helping them to lead healthier and happier lives,” Houser said.

In her free time, Houser likes to go hunting, fishing, and hiking.