Leslie Hite, ARNP, PMHNP-BC is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Mid-Valley Clinic, a rural health clinic in Omak, WA (Okanogan County). She provides mental healthcare services for individuals across the lifespan and works collaboratively with primary care providers, specialty healthcare providers, chronic care managers, and community support services to provide a “team-based” approach to health. Ms. Hite also takes referrals from healthcare providers all over Okanogan County to meet the mental health needs of Okanogan County.
Ms. Hite is interested in collaborative and integrated healthcare because she believes that a “team-based” approach has always been the best healthcare approach. She enjoys working together with an individual’s primary care provider and including other specialty providers and community resources to provide the best opportunity for health and wellbeing. Through this fellowship, she hopes to gain knowledge, new resources, and new ideas in providing integrated healthcare.
Ms. Hite chose to pursue this fellowship to develop knowledge and skill in providing integrated healthcare that she plans to share with the healthcare providers and staff that she works together with which will increase the health of individuals across the clinic, community, and county.
In 5 years, she hopes to see that all healthcare providers are practicing collaborative or integrated healthcare everywhere. In Okanogan County, she hopes to see a positive trend in healthcare statistics or community health scores because of practicing integrated healthcare.