MOSES LAKE — Mental health nurse-practitioner Teresa Hutsell has joined the staff of Samaritan Healthcare. Hutsell will be a practitioner in the Behavioral Health unit at Samaritan Clinic. She’s been working at the clinic for about a month, she said.

Hutsell said she got involved in psychiatric nursing while she was working at Moses Lake Community Health. One of her jobs at the community health clinic was as the nurse for the psychiatric nurse-practitioner, the only one in the county at the time, who saw patients at the facility two days per week.

Grant Integrated Services recruited her when its program was expanded, she said. She worked at GIS for 19 years, the last three as a psychiatric nurse-practitioner. Her husband urged her to take nurse-practitioner training, she said.

“I love it. I love with working with mental health outpatients and seeing their lives change,” she said.

Medical treatment is changing, moving toward a system where people get mental health treatment at the same time and place they receive treatment for physical ailments. Hutsell said that’s a good development. Patients had a hard time getting treatment for mental health problems when they were getting treated for physical ailments. “You had to go somewhere else to get (treatment).”

Hutsell was introduced at the July 31 Samaritan commission meeting, and was asked about the biggest challenge going forward. She said it’s that disconnect between mental and physical health. There are psychiatric nurse-practitioners in town, therapists and other mental health professionals, and they’re all busy. “There are more than enough patients in Grant County.” But most primary care physicians didn’t have mental health professionals available for consultation.

Family medicine physician Andrea Carter said the presence of Hutsell on the staff allows primary care doctors to start treatment while patients are waiting for appointments with a mental health professional.

Hutsell is a graduate of the nursing program at Big Bend Community College, and is a Moses Lake native. “Born and raised,” she said. She is a “board-certified advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner through Gonzaga University and an advanced registered nurse practitioner.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.