Terry Enjoys Serving Patients In Her Hometown

WATER VALLEY – When Deana Terry first started working at Yalobusha General Hospital during her senior year at Water Valley High School in 2006, she had no inclination that 14 years later she would be serving as a Family Nurse Practitioner at a local health clinic with the same employer.

“I wanted to return to work in my hometown, but I didn’t know if I would get that opportunity with so many nurse practitioners already here,” Terry explained about a journey that culminated with earning a Master of Science in Nursing at Delta State University in 2019. By that time she had worked as a registered nurse (RN) at YHS for two years before settling in for a six-year stint at the cardiac unit at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oxford. But she was ready to return to work in Water Valley.

The problem was that turnover is almost non-existent for nurse practitioners employed at Yalobusha Health Services (YHS). Ironically it was Covid that created an opportunity in March, 2020. Terry had been filling in at Odom Rural Health Clinic for almost a year, but only on an as-needed basis.

“Then along came Covid, they needed more people to swab and triage patients,” Terry explained. “My hours increased.”

The next opportunity came in August that same year with an opening at YHS’ Walk-In Clinic at 420 North Main. But that opportunity came with conflicting challenges – managing a demanding patient load in the height of the pandemic while bringing long-term growth to the struggling clinic.

The Walk-In Clinic was initially launched by YHS in a building behind Odom Rural Health Clinic to focus on patients with acute illnesses. The original purpose of the clinic remained the same when it was moved to 420 North Main – a quick in-and-out option for patients with a cold, strep, flu or other easily diagnosed illnesses. The problem was the daily patient count was too low to sustain the clinic.

Terry earned a strong reputation during the months that followed as dozens of Covid patients were treated daily at the Walk-In Clinic.

“We were so fast compared to many clinics in surrounding towns. Patients could come and get a test in 15 minutes because we did the triage outside. We earned a reputation that people would not have to wait, we upped our numbers tremendously just from that,” Terry explained. “There were days when we were seeing 40 patients. Hot, cold or raining, we ran and did it all. Those were tough days,” Terry continued.

When Covid began to ease, many of the patients returned to Terry for routine care for both acute and chronic illnesses as the Walk-In Clinic expanded to a complete care clinic without jeopardizing the fast-paced routine to minimize wait times. Terry credits team effort for the success – a strong working relationship with Melissa Kimzey manning the office and Hannah Wilbourn serving as the clinic’s LPN.

“I still want it to be a fast visit, 20 to 30 minutes, if I can. Some days we get slammed and it takes longer. But not so fast that people don’t feel like we are spending time with them.

Some patients need more time, and we welcome that too,” Terry noted. “It has grown as more and more people realized that they come here and get lab work, meds refilled and services that other clinics provide,” Terry said. “When I got here, I really wanted to show that we could make this clinic work and prove that we have a need for it.”

She also has earned a reputation as one of the go-to people at YHS for a few niches that include stitching up wounds and joint injections.

“I learned to do joint injections from Vickie (Turnage) and Dr. (Paul) Odom. They taught me techniques so it is not painful,” Terry said.

As for stitches, she explains that some nurse practitioners prefer not to do them.

“It is just if you are comfortable doing it or not. I like it, it is different and requires more skills than medicine,” Terry adds. “People get cut and don’t want to go to the emergency room.”

Keeping Local Talent In Water Valley

Terry credits her career start to former hospital administrator Terry Varner’s vision to recruit local talent for positions at YHS. This included her first step in that journey when she signed a contract to work as a nurse at YHS in exchange for paid tuition at Holmes Community College to earn her RN degree. Terry completed the program at Holmes in 2013, and worked nights at the hospital for one year and then as the nursing supervisor at the nursing home for another year before venturing out to explore career job opportunities.

Since then there have been many long days and nights during her journey as she juggled duties as a parent, wife, health care worker and student.

“My husband has been extremely supportive. The kids joke and call him ‘Momma Daddy’,” Terry explained about her spouse, Layth Terry, a Water Valley firefighter. “Sometimes he was there more than I was. I was working full-time and going to school full-time,” she explains. “He took the kids to birthday parties, because I worked every weekend.”

The couple knew each other in high school and started dating when she was in RN school.

“Back when I was a broke student,” Terry joked.

They have two children, seven year-old Liam Terry and four-year old Brayden Terry, who was born when Terry was in the middle of nurse practitioner school.

“Thankfully we have a normal life now.”