Published: January 23, 2008 05:27 pm      

Right path

RYAN — A few years ago, Kerri Farmer had reached a crossroad.

Farmer had grown up in Pickett in rural Pontotoc County and had already made one life-changing decision when she chose to drop out of Ada High School.

“I was like a lot of teenagers,” Farmer said, with a sigh, “I thought I knew everything.”

But being out in the “real world” didn’t turn out to be what Farmer envisioned. On that day at the crossroad, she realized it was time to head in a new direction, and that direction has led Farmer to relocate in Ardmore and begin a job with the Jefferson County Healthcare Authority as the family nurse practitioner at the Ryan Health Clinic and the Family Clinic of Ringling.

“I hadn’t even thought about going into nursing when I was young, but I knew I didn’t want to work in fast food all my life, so I went and got my GED,” Farmer recalled. “I got started in school kind of late in life, but I’m glad I made the choice.”

Getting into healthcare wasn’t an idea plucked out of thin air.

An aunt was a nurse, “and she encouraged me,” Farmer said. “And my dad’s health got bad and he had a nurse practitioner attending him. I talked to her about it, and I decided I wanted to focus on primary health.

“And my husband, Eric, encouraged me to do it.”

With that support, Farmer attended East Central University and Oklahoma City Community College, before attaining a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Oklahoma. She went to work as a registered nurse at Integris Baptist Hospital in Oklahoma City, and in May 2007, received a master’s degree from OU, specializing as a Family Nurse Practitioner.

With those credentials and a background at a highly-recognized facility like Integris Baptist, why is Farmer now splitting her time at the clinics in Ryan and Ringling, and assisting in the emergency room at Jefferson County Hospital?

“There was a really good staff at Integris and it was great experience. It’s not just for heart patients,” she said. “But I’m a small-town girl and I think that’s why I fit in so well in this job.

“At a clinic, every day is a new adventure. There are some runny noses and some ear aches, but then you also deal with someone who’s blood pressure is out of whack or somebody who’s cut their arm in an accident or something like that.

“My background has made me very versatile.”

In the Family Nurse Practitioner role, Farmer can provide clinic services for a variety of preventative and acute healthcare services to folks of all ages, including women’s and pediatric healthcare issues.

“We’re very happy to have Kerri with us,” said Jane McDowell, CEO of Jefferson County Hospital. “Our staff enjoys working with her, and she’s very caring and easy to get along with.

“Kerri cares about the quality of care she gives, and she brings us ideas on how to improve things, which is something I always appreciate.”

Jefferson County residents are able to avail themselves of Farmer’s skills by visiting the Ringling Family Clinic on Mondays and Wednesdays (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), and on Thursdays from 1-5 p.m. She’s at the Ryan Clinic from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, and on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Farmer also pulls a shift in the ER at Jefferson County Hospital on one night each week and one weekend a month.

The Farmers live on a farm outside Ardmore, where they’re raising 8-year-old twins Kylie and Masion. The Farmers met when Kerri was a student in Eric’s martial arts class, and since relocating, he’s begun teaching jujitsu at the Gracie Gym in Ardmore.