The Nurse's Clinic

These pages are but the tip of the iceberg, which frames the memoirs of this 40-year career veteran Registered Nurse. As she reflects upon her extremely colorful and many times painful excerpts from her career, the ray of sunlight which continues to reassure and console her of its worthiness is her embankment upon the annals of history in the establishment, design and implementation The Nurse's Clinic. In 1982, Alfreda Lawson McDaniel wrote a page in history when she independently but not intentionally defied the rules of nursing, to become the first nurse practitioner in the history of Nursing to open her doors to the public for the sake of humanity. Alfreda became the first sole proprietor of the first health maintenance organization designed, developed and implemented specifically for the health and well being of the senior citizens of San Antonio Texas. It was her experiences as a Registered Nurse that prevailed upon her conscience to do something about the injustices she had witnessed so early in her career. Are leadership abilities inherent, or are they molded by the sands of time? This question will be answered in her memoirs. The author asserts that if we can maintain the health of seniors efficiently and effectively outside of the hospitals, their longevity and quality of life would be greatly enhanced. The probability of exposure to Nosecomial infections would be minimized. Furthermore, if we could protect them from unscrupulous physicians, who compel them to take off label and dangerous drugs, that are sold to them at a cost 10 to 20 time greater than their worth; when there are more suitable and less expensive drugs approved by FDA already on the market, which display fewer side effects, then seniors would be safer. And if seniors were really educated relative to what is in their best interest, they would be more compliant. This theory was tested at the Nurse's Clinic in 1982. As a result of a sagging economy, a decline in the delivery of essential healthcare services for seniors; a paradigm shift in the management of healthcare services, the unfortunate exploitation by physicians by the illegal use of Medicare reimbursements, demands an alternative plan. Now it is time for the Nurse's Clinic to go resurface and go universal in the form of a franchise designed for Registered Nurses. To give nurses an option to practice nursing or continue in the expanded roles of technology. The goal is to make a Nurse's Clinic available to every neighborhood in America. It's time for a change.