National Nurse Practitioner Week celebrates NPs’ vital role in Kentucky healthcare

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – This week marks National Nurse Practitioner Week — a time to honor the vital role nurse practitioners play in delivering care across Kentucky and the nation.

Nurse practitioners, or NPs, go beyond traditional nursing duties. They provide primary care, diagnose illnesses, write prescriptions, and focus on preventative and chronic care management.

For Lexington-based NP Mandy Walters, the profession became her calling later in life. “The nurse practitioner role gave me more autonomy and the ability to work with a team to really get out in the community and take care of patients,” Walters said.

Walters works with Sprinter Health, a company that sends licensed medical professionals — called “Springers” — into patients’ homes to provide at-home diagnostic care and assist with virtual clinical assessments.

“We’re covering everything from medical history and medications to needed screenings,” Walters said. “Then we put all of that together into a care plan for both the patient and their provider.”

She says that approach has made a real difference for patients, especially when timely care is critical. “We were able to call EMS to a patient’s home, and they ended up having a life-saving procedure,” Walters recalled.

Walters says while the job can be demanding, the impact makes it worth it. “It’s exciting to be recognized outside of Nurses Week,” she said. “This is such a rewarding field.”