Transcript

American Family Radio thanks sponsor, Preborn for supporting pro life advocacy

Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello

Dr. Jessica Peck: and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there friends and welcome to my favorite time of day, getting to spend time with you prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. You know, we talk about a lot of really tough things on this show. We tackle tough topics and I'm so excited to tell you that today is not one of those days. Today we've got a few feel good story, something that is going to encourage you, uplift you, and that is fun. Now, what is not fun is all across America, we are having many families are having a common experience. We see access to basic health care becoming a lot harder to find, especially in rural communities. I know I'm seeing that as a nurse practitioner, myself, as a professor. We see hospitals closing. We see clinics becoming more expensive, expensive. And especially in rural places, there's just not a lot of options. We see providers who are stretched thin. Maybe I live here in Texas. They're covering multiple counties. For many families, something as routine as a checkup or just managing a chronic illness or getting care for a sick child can mean hours on the road and a lot of fear in the hearts of parents. But what is more striking is this. The solutions aren't always coming from big health systems or national programs, although those do exist sometimes. Some of the most innovative, inspiring solutions start locally with people who see a need and feel called to step in. And that is what today's conversation is about, that kind of story. And I hope that you won't just listen to this story and think, oh, that was a great story. I hope that you will pray and reflect and think, what might God have for you and your own community? Where could you step in? Now, this story we're telling you today is one that's rooted in calling and community collaboration. And it's a story that reminds us that healthcare is not just clinical, it is deeply relational and it is a community affair for sure. And we know that God calls us not Only to care for people, but to care for their families, to care for our communities with compassion and with practicality. And so we're going to talk about what happens with community, partnerships and collaborations. What happens when that stops operating in separate spaces, but people use their gifts and come together. Now, to give you an intro to this, I'm going to play a short video which you can listen to, but you can also watch the whole video. This is a video that features, a YouTuber. Some of you will know, some of you will say, wait, who is this? If you don't know who it is, ask your grandkids. but this is Mr. Beast. This is a Philanth. This is a YouTuber who has a philanthropy arm called Beast Philanthropy. And we're going to let them tell you what they have done and then we're going to talk to the players involved. So, Marty, let's play the clip.

Mr. Beast: What if I told you we could turn this shipping container into a life saving medical clinic? This is what the shipping containers look like before we do anything. But once we're done, it will literally look like this on the inside. The clinic we've been working on is going to go over to Massachusetts at the end of the video. But that's not the only project we're doing. In this video, we're going to send five unique clinics to medical deserts around the world where getting to a doctor just isn't realistic. Got a lot to do in this video. Let's keep working. Nolan, have you ever used one of these things? No, I think you put your hand right there. Oh, nice. Okay, here you go. What do I do with this? I don't know. There's somebody cut it there. We only had a few hours before the truck arrived to take this clinic to its final destination. Wow.

Mr. Beast: Each one of these clinics is custom built to serve the community they will go to. And what's crazy is that these clinics have been built entirely by college students. And since build started in 2013, these students have deployed 60 clinics in 24 countries and have already impacted over 200,000 people. We got some more work to do here, but let's go see how Madge is doing in Texas.

In Chester, Texas, getting medical care in an emergency is extremely hard

We are currently driving through Texas to a small city named Chester where we're going to be delivering a life saving medical clinic.

Mr. Beast: Because of how remote this town is, getting medical care in an emergency is extremely hard. Just this year alone, the school in Chester has had two medical emergencies where they had to wait almost an hour for an ambulance to arrive and when help is this far away, every minute matters. This is the first medical clinic here in Chester, Texas. I mean, this is insane. We saw the first iteration of it. It's literally a shipping container with wood. And now this is a fully fledged operating medical clinic. One of the coolest things about this whole clinic is that they have a telehealth center. Doctor shows up here, we sit here, we get diagnosed. We tell them exactly what's going on with us, and they'll have a solution.

Mr. Beast: This new clinic will be run by Timber, a local hero who was born and raised in Chester. I'm a fixer. I like to try to fix people. I have a caring heart, but my mom was probably my biggest inspiration. Gonna make me tear up. I am so proud of her. I think I was put on this earth to care and make sure my family and community are taken care of. I don't get emotional. It's just who I am. This is my home, and I thank y'. All. Chester, Texas. Make sure you guys go check out your clinic. We really do appreciate you guys taking the time to come out here.

Mr. Beast: Now this entire town has access to health care right on their doorstep. This is making a difference in the community. This is helping people get health care for the first time in their lives.

Dr. Jessica Peck: This is making a difference in the community. And we're going to talk to the people who were boots on the ground making a difference.

Three guests join us to talk about a new rural healthcare clinic coming to Texas

We have three guests today coming to us, talking about this clinic that's going to go into Chester, Texas. First up, we have Dr. Natalie Bashynsky She is a longtime friend of mine, a family nurse practitioner, a nurse scientist, a rural healthcare advocate. Really just a community hero. And Dr. Bashynsky left a successful academic and research career to bring accessible, compassionate care directly to underserved families in East Texas. And she runs a clinic there in Houston County. And amazing. Our second guest, as you already heard on the video, is Timber Wright. She's a family nurse practitioner, a next generation rural healthcare leader. She is deeply rooted in her community. She serves families across. Across the lifespan. She brings both clinical excellence and lived understanding of rural life. And last but certainly not least, we've got Pastor Jordan Wilson. He is the founding and lead pastor of the Church in the country in Woodville, Texas. And Pastor Jordan is committed to building a faith community that not only preaches the gospel, but actively meets the needs of the people it served. Okay. I am so excited to be able to talk with you to see this vision come to life, because many people enter healthcare to help others, but sometimes that calling grows into something deeper. And so I want to start with you, Natalie, with Dr. Bashynsky Let's start with you. I would love for you just to introduce yourself to our listeners, tell them how you did leave a very successful researcher career and academics, and you went and moved out into a rural county, and you have been changing the hearts and lives and health of people for over a decade now since. Would you introduce yourself?

Dr. Natalie Bashynsky: Yes. I'm Natalie Bashynsky Thank you for having us today. as you mentioned, I'm a family nurse practitioner. in the past, I was also a professor and faculty member at UTMB in Galveston. And part of what I did there was, lead a research program where we did, interprofessional care in rural communities. It was actually with medically fragile children, where we went out and did home visits and tried to help families, find resources and provide education for the families that were struggling and the kids that were struggling. And what I found through that process, was that a lot of times it was more lack, of resources that really led to the health problems that the families were going through. That really motivated me, to think outside the box. And I just felt like after seeing what these families were going through, I just couldn't stay in an area that I was in. And so made the move out to rural East Texas. And we've been serving out here for. I've been here for about 10 years now. opened Houston County Family Medical Clinic, six years ago. And, through. Through. During that time, started collaborating with Texas A and M on their rural Health Board, through the School of Medicine, and really found out about some innovative programs that they were involved in. And that's. That's how this collaboration came about. trying to help serve communities that are even smaller and more underserved than the one where we currently are in Crockett, Texas. So, found out about the needs in Chester and. And Timber Wright is actually a nurse practitioner here at this clinic, but she's grown up in the Chester community, and they have never had health care, within their own community. So we decided to expand with the help of church in the country and Texas A and M with the BUILD program. And it's been a wonderful adventure getting everything set up.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Natalie, I am just amazed at what you have done. I think about, you know, just the difference that you have made in your community where your patients have access to care where they didn't have before. And now you've been such a consistent presence in that and being Able to share that somewhere else is really exciting. So Timber, let's go to you and let's hear your story and how you started working at the clinic and how you got the, the, the opportunity to step into your hometown.

Timber Wright: yes. So I'm Timber Wright, like Natalie said. Thank you, for having us today. So how I got involved with Natalie and Houston County Family Medical Clinic. I was actually, working at a hospital in Lufkin and my boss was actually from this area and I needed some clinical hours and she said, I have the perfect clinic, the perfect people for you. So she kind of got me in contact with Natalie. I did probably three or four rotations through this clinic and we just, it was a family atmosphere. I just, even though, you know, it's about 60 miles from Chester, Texas, but I was already having used to having to drive, you know, 40 minutes to work anyway in Lufkin, but it was just family oriented and we just kind of hit it off right at the bat. And I knew I loved them and I would drive to see them. And it's just been a great experience so far. And like Natalie said, she's the one that kind of got this, you know, A and M build start going, for the Chester community. and I'm excited because, you know, that's the community that I grew up in for 29 years. I, ah, still live there. that community has, you know, I get emotional talking about, you know, Chester because it's, they just mean a lot to me. I do it every time. They have shaped me into the person I am today. And I just, I want to give back to my community because they've given back to me so much.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Don't you dare apologize for being emotional, for caring about your people. That is nothing ever to be sorry for. And, and we're going to get to Pastor Jordan in just a second, but let me sit here with, with these two nurses for just a second. And Natalie, what are you as the opportunity? Well, actually, let's go back to Timber here. Timber, I'll give you just a second to collect yourself because you love these people. Talk about what it's like to know these people. I mean, these aren't just strangers. These are your friends, these are your family. These are the people who work and serve you in the community every day. What are the actual needs that you're seeing? We heard it on the Mr. Beast video about even some needs in the school. What is the real life impact of not having health care access in Chester? What does that look like for everyday families.

Timber Wright: I mean, a lot of people, you know, can't get out and drive, you know, 30 minutes down the road for health care. A lot of people, a lot of people lack education. Like Natalie said earlier, resources like the, these people just don't know how to take care of themselves. and like the school, you know, like I said, they have to drive 20 minutes up the road just to kind of go get health care. And with me being there, you know, if a kid's sick, the school nurse, you know, can definitely call and send them over with their parents. We can get them checked out. If they can go back to school. It helps produce the numbers up in the school with kids, you know, attending school. just the education part's a huge thing to me. Just people have no idea, you know, how to take care of themselves. It's easy if they have the proper healthcare and education. So I'm excited to bring that to the area and the community as well.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, it's really great just to see God putting you all in the right place at the right time. And I certainly see that with Natalie's giftedness and strengths and being able to coordinate this partnership. And we're going to talk more about that, what that partnership looks like. It's so intriguing to look at it, to see that if you, if you're watching the video, if you're watching the streaming or if you're just listening, let me describe it to you because we're talking about a shipping container. I mean it just looks like a big hu of corrugated metal. And for somebody just looking from the outside, you would maybe not have much imagination for that. But when you see how this can become a clinic and you see engineering students from Texas A and M stepping in to be able to engineer that space to function, to provide some of those services that you just described. Timber. This is literal life changing, life saving work that happens. And it only happened because you all said, yes, yes, we'll serve our community. That is really exciting. When we come back, we'll also hear from Pastor Jordan Wilson about the church partnership that happened with this and we'll talk some more about what it looks like to have to walk into your calling with courage. And we will hear more about that if you want to go see the rest of the video. The video also featured other shipping containers that were put to all other parts of the world, including Africa. But we're going right back to Chester, Texas, out in East Texas. When we come back, we'll see you right after this break.

Preborn empowers women to become mothers through an ultrasound

Mother's Day. It's one of the most beautiful moments of the year to share life changing news. Maybe you've seen it, a family gathered around the table. When someone stands up and says, next year there will be a brand new mom in our family and there's nothing like it. But for some women, Mother's Day feels very different. Instead of celebrating, they're carrying a secret. Afraid, unsure, alone. That's why preborn exists. Because when a woman sees her baby on an ultrasound and hears that tiny heartbeat, it doubles the chance she'll choose life. I couldn't imagine my life without him because of them. He's here. We're gonna get through it and it's gonna be okay.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Preborn empowers women to become mothers. Just 28 dollars provides one ultrasound. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com/AFR, afr that's preborn.com/AFR.

Can't Steal My Joy by Josiah Queen and Brandon Lake : in the Valley of the shadow I got a feeling it's season that'll make me grow I'm still breathing I got praise in my lungs In a choir in my soul can't steal my joy. Can't steal my joy. What the world couldn't give no, it can't take away the sorrow the,

Dr. Jessica Peck: welcome back, friends. That is can't steal My joy by Josiah Queen and Brandon Lake. And you can't steal my joy.

Community partnership takes shipping container and retrofits it to become Texas clinic

Today I've got two nurses on the show with a pastor. And we're talking about a very unique county partnership, a community partnership that's happened to take a shipping container, have engineering students fit it, retrofit it to become a clinic in Chester, Texas. That's a rural place in East Texas. And we are talking today to Natalie Bashinski, a nurse practitioner who was the architect and the coordinator behind that partnership. We're talking to Timber Wright, who is the nurse practitioner who's going to be providing care there. And we're talking to Jordan Wilson, who partnered with a local partnered his local church with this effort. So we're right in the middle of the story and how this came to be. Natalie, I want to go back to you and talk about how I just see God putting you in the right place at the right time to be able to use your gifts and talents that you had to bring this partnership together. Can you talk a little bit more about the logistics of how this dream came to be?

Dr. Natalie Bashynsky: Absolutely. So as you mentioned, you know, we made the decision to Say yes. which has always worked out for me. basically, if there's something that I feel like there's a need and there's a creative way to get to it, I think it's just being willing to, you know, to take that first step. And when we found out that there was the opportunity because so many of the shipping containers had gone overseas, when I found out that there was an opportunity that that one of the shipping containers could be placed in Texas, and I was very excited because as much as, you know, we love having timber here, it is an hour away from her home. And we were seeing that, you know, she had a lot of needs in her community and wanted her to be able to feel like she was giving back to her community in addition to being here where we are in Houston County. And so, for us, building a clinic from the ground up there just wasn't attainable. I mean, it just wasn't something that we would be able to make happen in the time that we needed. And so when this opportunity came with, the basically service Learning project through Texas A and M, I just jumped on it because I loved the way that all of the students came together and just seeing how with the other clinics that they had put together, just hearing the stories of how they connected with the community and how the community supported them. And that's really exciting because with projects like this, you have to have buy in from the community to make it successful. And so we just stepped out there and we're lucky enough to have church in the country, to help us with a lot of the logistics also, and helping us find the right people to, you know, get the, get the clinic there and on the ground and all of the prep work done and plumbing and septic and electric and all the other things that have to go, into getting the clinic functional. And it's been a large project as, as you can imagine. And being in rural areas, it's a little bit harder to find companies to help, with establishing sites. And so, having a local partner with Church in the country, and also helping us with some of the fundraising that we needed to make it happen. It was just an integral part of the whole process.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, let's go exactly there. Let's go to Pastor Jordan Wilson from Church in the country and you know, Natalie, one of the things I love about this story is just seeing the long arc of it. You talked about, you know, your days at UTMB and running this million dollar interprofessional grant where you really forged community partnerships to help better serve the health of the community. But then you know, just feeling called to go out and starting Houston County Medical Clinic, Houston County Family Clinic and how successful that has been and, and now you're able to do that. And Timber, who was driving 60 miles to practice is now going to be able to practice right there in her hometown. Jordan, let's talk about your story in here. How did you come to pastor church in the country and tell us more about your role in the partnership of this community event here. Effort.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: Well hello Jessica and and thanks for the opportunity to be on the show today. It's a long story. 2013 start Church in the country. I'm from a nearby town. started as a cowboy church but knew all along that we didn't really have a lot of cowboys. Everybody everybody people think Texas is full of cowboys and they do. Certain parts of Texas are full of cowboys. But we, we relate more to Southern culture than Western culture where we are. And so we we said well let's just do country. Let's, let's, let's let's go country. And so over the span of a few years we more from Tyler County Cowboy Church and Tyler County Country Church in the church in the country and got to a name in church in the country that we felt like was something that could be, could be used in other places besides just where we are in Tyler County which we We also have a location that we started in at at Lake Sam Rayburn and close to the Brooklyn community that's doing well now and our hope is to start more church in the country countries all over the country in the future. So we've got a big vision and just we believe in, in in doing things well and doing things high quality things church wise. but doing them in a way that will relate to people. we we We serve country folks, rural folks and so we we speak the language that they speak and that's important for us to, to. To do that. So anyways we we've been doing this since 2013 and and just have had a. Just just been just been blessed so many times at at our church and probably the the largest church in our. In our area now and and just God's done amazing things and so we've We've I don't know Timbers and her family, parts of her family have been going to our church for for many years. and when this Opportunity came along. we heard about this. Timber, reached out and said hey, got something for you to look at. I thought oh cool. And the cool thing is Chester, where the clinic is. My, my, my kids go to school over there. So we don't live in Chester, but we live about 15 minutes away. And I make that morning commute, twice a day. Well, morning commute in the morning and I pick them up normally in the afternoon too. So I'm over there all the time. And and like Timber, just falling in love with the community over there. and so when we had an opportunity to partner with with Natalie and Timber and Texas A and M, we jumped at it. And the way, the way Texas A and M does this is basically. And, and again these have, these have been going out all over the world. but they require a non profit partner. that basically when it's all said and done, the property and the structure goes into the non profit partners name. So basically the way it's set up, they had to have a non profit partner actually own the facility, own the property. and so that, that was us and that, that is us. And so we're excited to be a part of that. And, and our church has helped out some financially as well. But most of the donations have come to Texas A M. Other and other donors, you know, like Mr. Beast, from, from all across the really the country. So that's our, our role in it. We're here, we're, we're just here to kind of do anything that we can to help out, you know, little things. We're, we're nearby, you know, we're kind of just getting into it. You know. Right now we're, we're trying to figure out how to get electricity cut on and, and plumbing, all that kind of good stuff. So we're, we're using resources that we have people that we know locally and just kind of pitching in. So we're excited about this thing opening up here pretty quick and, and just really believe in Timber and Natalie and their whole team and, and just I, I see the need. And, and honestly I wish we could start three more of these. I mean we, we, we, we don't deserve Chester. We serve four or five different communities. We're kind of a regional church. We're not really in one community. M. We're kind of outside in the middle of a bunch of other communities. So we have folks coming from 30 to 40 miles away a lot of times to come to our church. And I just see the need for this in so many other places. And, I wish we could figure out how to do it three more times.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Who knows, maybe, maybe there's a donor listening here. But it is pretty amazing to watch the video, you know, that showed the first couple of minutes of it. But then right after that, you go to Nigeria, you go to Kenya. That's where some of these other shipping containers are going. And to see that there is a need right here in the United States for that kind of access to healthcare. Jordan.

Most church prayer requests are about people being sick or having health care needs

Pastor Jordan, I want to dive into that a little bit more. You keep saying I see the need. And I see you, you know, as a pastor, you take care of people, but people are body, mind and spirit. And you know, anytime you go to any church service, if you ask for prayer requests, most of the first prayer requests you're going to get are about people being sick, people being hurt, people having health care needs. You know, somebody's having surgery, somebody's got cancer. That's when the church is going to show up with the casserole at their door. And so much of that physical health care need that they have, it impacts their spiritual needs, it impacts their holistic self. So can you tell us more, Pastor Jordan, about how you see that need presenting in the church environment where you're pastoring?

Pastor Jordan Wilson: Well, a couple things on that and, and Timber kind of answered this question a little bit earlier, and I want to kind of circle back around to that.

Rural communities need mental health help more than ever

You know, why, why is it important? Why does Chester. And why do these communities need something like this? interesting thinking about this and being interviewed by Mr. B, some of their people. One of the things that came to my mind was we can't measure how many lives are going to be saved because that clinic is right there. Because people having to drive 30 to 45 minutes to an hour to get something checked out. A lot of times people would be like, you know, some of us good old country folks, we're, we're hard headed, right? You know, not, not Timber. a lot of the other folks around us and definitely not me. I'm good. It'll be fine. I ain't gonna drive 30, 45 minutes to go, get, get something checked out. And so they don't go. And something that's small turns into something bad. It's like, I'm not a doctor, but I know that a little cold can turn into pneumonia before you know it and you got a big problem, right? And so how many, how many lives are going to be affected and how many Lives are going to be saved because that is accessible and right next door, you can't measure that. But I believe that's a, that, that is a, that's a big, big, big thing. and so I would say that that's a key thing for us. and I also, you know, I'm a big. I believe in small town usa. I believe in rural America. it drives me crazy that we get the, the bad end of the stick sometimes, you know. And so, my mentality as church in the country, as pastors living here, I'm all about right here. I love these people. I love this way of life. I believe in it. I think it's the best way of life. I think it's the best way to live. And I'm, all for anything that's going to, to help us. one of the other things too, that I would say that, that I think, think really is key. And for my personal side of things, I've. I've had some mental health struggles in the past. I have. I mean, I've. There was. Right after Covet, there was a time where I had to step out of the pulpit because I literally couldn't be on stage. Like, I just couldn't deal with it. I was. Panic attacks. I've been doing this for 13 years, preaching. I don't know how many messages. but I was having these panic attacks. I just couldn't. I couldn't do it. Like, I just, I don't know what was going on. I couldn't even. I couldn't go into a restaurant. I couldn't be. I couldn't be anywhere really. Like, I was, I was in the bed, in the field position. I was messed up. I don't know what happened. I think now, now I kind of understand it. After going through some counseling and stuff like that, it was a lot of years of just, I think, bitterness and, and, and lots of, you know, emotional trauma things pastors that we see, you hear. I mean, it was to the point to where, like, people would call me and tell me about what was going on in their life, you know, like a health crisis or whatever. And I couldn't listen to them. Like, I had to turn down the radio or the phone or whatever just to put my phone away from my ear and just say, okay, yeah, I'm praying for, you know, I just couldn't. I couldn't listen to it. I was in a bad spot. And so I got help, mental health help. I went and visited with a. With A, a psychologist, Christian psychologist, and, and worked through this and I've, I've come back, back better than ever, and I haven't had any problems since then. And so one of the things that came out of that for me is how important it is, especially in rural communities that we think about and we offer services that, that can help people with, rule, with, mental health. And one of the things about this clinic that I don't think we've mentioned that that's coming is mental health help, that's going to be available, not necessarily inside, like in person, but I know that it's going to be available through the telehealth and Texas A and M. And so that's, that's one of the things on my heart, and I don't fully have the answer to that just yet, but the limited access to mental health help in these small communities is, is a tremendous need. We, we had a guy that, that goes to our church a few, a few weeks ago, took his life. I had no idea. Nobody had any idea. If we had known, if one person would have known, I guarantee you we would have sat down everything we were doing and had that conversation with that guy. Who knows, if he'd had access to something close by, maybe he would have went and got help, you know, and so I could talk about this all day long, passionate about this, but I, but I believe in, I believe in what we're doing. I believe in Chester, but I believe in this, this, this, this method of Texas A and M going out and, and how they're doing this. And one of the things that's pretty cool too, I think it needs to be mentioned is that they, they after fallen Aggie soldiers.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yeah.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: you know, and so that's pretty cool. We got to go to a, to the dedication there back in the, back in the late, part of the fall or back in November and kind, of meet some of the families and stuff, Gold star families and, and that that makes it even more special, you know, and so, man, just, we're just blessed to be a part of this. And, and I'm, I, I've loved getting to know Natalie and, and it was cool being a part of the Mr. Beast, thing there. Mads. I, I, I did know who Mr. Beast was. Okay. I didn't know who, who the guy coming was Madge. And, he was cool to meet him. But, I tell you what, those videos, they're pretty good. They're pretty interesting to watch get lost in Those things.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm betting, Pastor Jordan, that your kids were part of you knowing who Mr. Beast was. I'm just going to go out on a limb there and think that because kids do teach us so much. And Pastor Jordan, I want to say that I am very confident that just. Just the way that you shared your story so transparently, I know it just. It helps somebody. It helps somebody who is listening because it means a lot for someone who's in the pulpit, who's supposed to have it all together, say, like, oh, yeah, it's fine. I can. I can get through it. That, you know, sometimes we just look at those through just a, spiritual lens of need. But there is also a mental health need. There's a physical health need, there's an emotional health, health need.

Talking about how you got help and you found recovery is really important

And talking so transparently about how you got help and you found recovery is really important. And I also do want to honor this, the namesake. I think it's a first Lieutenant Matthew Vandergrift is what I have. And, that is the. The fallen soldier who will be honored through this. When we come back, I want to talk some more to Timber about what nurse practitioners do in the community and the services that. That they provide and the holistic health perspective that they have. And if you're out there listening and thinking, you know what, maybe I could step up and say yes to something, you know what that opportunity is that you've been thinking about? Maybe this is your sign. More after the break.

Christianity is a historical religion. The historical foundation of the Christian faith is fundamental to our faith

Here's Dr. Ben Witherington from the American Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks.

Dr. Ben Witherington: I like to say a text without a context is just a pretext for whatever you want it to mean. In other words, without the historical context, you can twist that text and make it mean whatever you would like it to mean. And more importantly, Christianity is a historical religion. I would put it this way. Nothing is theologically true that's historically false. The historical foundation of the Christian faith is fundamental to our faith. So therefore, it follows that studying the historical context of the New Testament is critical to understanding it at all. Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.

Up + Up by Colton Dixon: Even though I walk through the valley, sometimes it feels like a crawl through the valley But I got a promise that I hold on tight too I can't lose when I'm right beside you yeah God know the plans you have for me when my cup is overflowing, win so while I'm in the end between I'mma live my life knowing if I get down, you pick me up from the ground you Give me love and don't give out Giving no conditions you lift me up and up again now no matter who's around I let my.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is up + up by Colton Dixon. And that's where we're going with today's show. I am so happy when we have shows that are just feel good stories and stories that empower people, inspire people, and talk about good that is going on in the world. We have enough of the doom scroll, and here on this show, we often tackle tough topics that need to be addressed. But today, blessedly, is not one of those days. And to catch you up, I am talking today to Dr. Natalie Bashynsky She's a family nurse practitioner, nurse scientist, a rural healthcare advocate who had experience in nursing, academics, and research with interprofessional partnerships that brought access to care to underserved communities. And we're also talking to Timber Wright, a family nurse practitioner who works in her clinic. Natalie left a successful academic career, went to start Houston County Family Medical Clinic, and that is in Crockett, Texas, and it's about 60 miles away. We've got the city of Chester, which is Timber's hometown. She's been commuting to work at Natalie's clinic. And now through a partnership with Pastor Jordan Wilson, who partnered, who agreed to be the community partner, the nonprofit organization that coordinated engineering students from Texas A and M to bring a converted shipping container to be a clinic in. now, you know, I am a nurse. I'm a nurse practitioner. I am a real fan of advocate for care, but I see how lack of access to care really impacts families. Parents who are worried about their kids who are sick or hurt, and they need a trusted voice to be able to go to. And having to drive an hour is sometimes just not possible to do. And so, Timber, let's go back to you and let's talk about your skill set as a family nurse practitioner. There may be some here who are maybe unclear and have questions about what do you do, what kind of services do you provide. Talk about your vision for how the skill set, the education, the certification, licensure that you have really have the potential to transform the health of families. You'll be serving in Chester.

Timber Wright: Yes. So, I mean, being a family nurse practitioner, working in a rural health community, in clinic, you know, we manage a. We do a lot. We, basically are our own little internal medicine people, but we manage a lot of, chronic, illnesses, you know, from diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, which is high cholesterol you know, in the communities, you know, in Chester, Texas, you know, we, there's a lot of ranchers and a lot of mechanics, so we can also do sutures, you know, as well. So that'll be a big help in the community. A lot of people. Like, we have a Dollar General now, we call it the Chester Mall, and I love it. I'll see people in there and they'll be like, timber. I hadn't been to the doctor in 10 years, but when I heard you're coming to town, I'm coming to see you. So, that means a lot as well. And a lot of people, you know, especially the elder population, elderly population, they can get their. Their, you know, medicine sent to their house. So, I mean, they're gonna be able to drive some of them five minutes, you know, up the road, go see their doctor, get their blood drawn, because we can also do blood draws, and then get their medicine sent to the house. So that's going to be a, you know, a huge deal as well. And we see, you know, newborns, you know, right out of the hospital to the, you know, elderly population. So we're not set to one, you know, age. So we do a lot of, you know, health steps, vaccinations, blood draws, sick visits, and just kind of manage, like I said, chronic, you know, care, you know, illnesses. And like Jordan said, mental health is a big thing, to me as well. I think the area we live in, it just lacks it. So that's going to be a huge deal for the community as well, because people, you know, are afraid, you know, to open up. And, I'm a big advocate for it. I like to educate people. So I think just educating the community, give them the right resources, it's going to be a huge help, and I'm excited to be a part of it.

Dr. Natalie Bashynsky is a longtime advocate for rural health access

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Natalie, you're a longtime advocate for rural health access. You are an expert in that. You've been living this and starting your own clinic and now being able to use your resources to bring that together. What do you see? How do you see the impact of this, on the ground? You know, when. From vision, what does that reality look. Looking like to you?

Dr. Natalie Bashynsky: Yeah, so one of the things that we know about patients and residents of rural areas is that overall they have poor health, more chronic disease, more, diseases that are not diagnosed until too late sometimes. we have more, mental health disorders that are undiagnosed and untreated. And so I see this as, just generally being Able to improve the health of the whole community. And that's what we want, you know, to. We want. We want the community to feel supported and to be able to have that preventative health care, screenings, medication, treatment when needed, but really to be able to give them access and to build those relationships that make them feel comfortable enough to come in and seek care. I think one of the things that we've been able to do here even is to help patients that are uninsured, that don't have access to care or don't have health insurance, health coverage. We have several programs where we've been able to do things like free vaccinations through some of those. The programs through the state of Texas. we've collaborated with Texas A and M to be able to offer free, well, woman exams, hepatitis screenings, colon, cancer screenings and breast cancer screenings. And we'll be able to continue to do that there. So, being that, you know, typically there is more poverty also in rural areas, I mean, our goal is to help, you know, be able to, to do prevention and screenings no matter if patients are insured or not. and that's one of the, one of the values with having the collaboration with the Telehealth Institute at Texas A and M. Also, if those patients come in needing counseling or psychiatric management, we're able to do that at no cost through a grant that's been provided. So, you know, they're really, I mean, the goal is really to decrease the barriers and to take those barriers down that prevent people from being healthy. And so we're looking at multiple different ways to be able to do that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That, that's, what I love about your skill set and being able to do that and having nurse practitioners in communities like this, healthcare providers in communities like this, this makes a real difference in every day to day living. As Timber talked about, you know, from cradle to grave. Here we've got moms who are new moms who are worried, am I feeding my baby okay? Are they getting enough to eat? And I'm, I'm sitting at home and I'm worried. And to be able to give that reassurance can change the trajectory of the whole postpartum experience. Or you think about people who think I can' afford my diabetes medication. And even if I could afford it, I don't know where I'm going to get it. And being able to have blood sugar control, that impacts everything. It impacts quality of life, it impacts relationships, it even impacts things like you talked about, Natalie. Cancer screenings People who don't have access or means to get cancer screening, and then all of a sudden they're diagnosed with a late stage cancer. I know, you know, for us as, nurses, those things are always really heartbreaking. But the thing that I see in common with each of you is that you eat said yes, you saw an opportunity, and you said, yes, I will step forward and do that. Natalie, you did that at utmb. You did that in Houston County. Timber, you did that in Houston County. Now you're doing that in Chester. And Jordan, you did that with your church. What was it like to get your church on board to say, yeah, because it wasn't just you. Like, you had to get your people on board. How did you get consensus for the church to say, yeah, we're gonna step forward and we're gonna do this?

Pastor Jordan Wilson: we just did it. I mean, it's a no brainer. Like some things, some things don't require a whole lot of thought, you know, I mean, people sometimes are like, well, I need to pray about this. No, you don't.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: Just do it.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: You know what I'm saying? I mean, so, like, what. Why would we not do it? And so, I mean, our people, you know, I think part of the, part of the, the great things about, about this part of the world is, is, but especially people are used to going to church. A lot of times is people put a lot of trust in you as the pastor, you know, and we do, we, we do a lot to, to try to make sure that we don't abuse that and that we take care of that. And so people trust the leadership and, they buy in. You know, it's, it's, it's just good. So I think, I think there's some credibility there and, and people know who Timber, Timber is. So that's, that's a no brainer trainer. Know her real well. we did. We didn't know who Natalie was, but we love her. Now. Her husband, I don't know about that guy.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, he is an attorney, so, you know, that's, that's a tough battle to fight. Right.

Dr. Jessica Peck: But such a great skill set for here. Well, Jordan, I've also, you know, I've been following this story on social media. Y' all have had some parties and some celebrations. Like the community has come out in full force. Jordan, can you talk a little bit about what that looks like? Because this is, this is a groundswell of energy. This is something that's being celebrated. I can see it hit.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: Yeah. So it's interesting. The, the Mr. Beast deal. I, it. We didn't have any idea about those guys being involved at all. We knew, you know, who the players were. And then this. We found out, what about two months ago that there was a silent partner that was going to help because, I mean, listen, there's a lot of extra expenses once you get, once you get the thing on the ground. Yeah, there's.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: You got to get, you know, sewage system hooked up, electricity, it's all tens of thousand dollars. And so, we had no idea. And then once we found out it was Mr. Beast and kind of got over the initial. What, Mr. Beast is coming to Chester? What. it was like, okay, it was, it was interesting coordinating with them to try to figure out, you know, what, what they wanted because they were. Obviously they're coming to make a video, right? I mean they're. Mr. Beast is number one YouTube guy, period. Like, I think he's the most drive, most watched in the world. World.

Pastor Jordan Wilson: And so that's their thing. So we knew they were coming and just trying to understand what they wanted and what we could do to, to help, you know, kind of get their video together and get the exposure that they wanted. And so we put together a, ah, kind of a little block party, I don't know, in the span of about a week or so. And that's the thing about Chester. You know, work is out about stuff fast. I mean, we, we planned a fundraiser starting last Sunday for, for something. And. And it happened on, on this past Sunday and it was phenomenal. You know, just word travels fast in small towns and, and so we got people out there, we got a band out there. I think we kind of understood what they wanted and we kind of crafted that and created that and got the word out. And you know, it's, it's interesting because like, they don't want too many people to know about it because they don't want 8, 000 people there, but they also want a certain number of people there. So it looks like it's full. So it, it was just perfect. I mean it. We had had, you know, the community came out, a couple hundred people probably were there and, and we had a food truck out there and just, just had a, had a lot of good, good times. And, and so the, the video that you watched the part, and Chester was filmed a couple months ago and we couldn't, we couldn't talk about it really a whole lot online or anything until after it was released. And now that's been Released. You know, there's. There's other media about. Media outlets locally that have picked it up. And. And so it's been pretty cool. But we still have a grand opening coming. I know soon that. That we'll have some more of the. The. Some more of the dignitaries from Texas A and M come down and stuff like that. So we'll have another opportunity to celebrate. So it's. It's a. It's. It's a lot of energy, definitely, that's coming to. To Chester. just the school in Chester is really good, so we're blessed to be a part of that. And like Timber said, the dollar general there, now we got a doctor's office. Now we. It's a restaurant. If you're listening, you're in the restaurant business, you want to open up a restaurant somewhere, please come to Chester. All we need, we'll have what would be set.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so beautiful to see everybody using their gifts, though. And it is great to see the exposure that somebody like, a YouTuber like Mr. Beast has to be able to bring light to this. And I hope that it inspires a similar partnership in other communities. I hope that there are other university leaders who are listening here who are saying, hey, maybe my university could have that kind of partnership. I hope there's other nurses and nurse practitioners who are saying. Saying maybe I could find that for my community. And I hope there's other pastors and other nonprofit leaders who are saying, yeah, if that came to my community, I would say yes. And to each of you to bring the resources that you have, because each of you has a very different skill set, instead of resources, instead of community collateral. But it's only in working together that you are really going to make an impact on the lives of Chester and Timber. I'll give the last word to you, and if you'd like to speak to your community, give a message of thanks. Any last words that you'd like to say to express your sentiments about this coming to your hometown?

Timber Wright: Well, like I said, you know, earlier, they shaped me, formed me into the person I am today. And just to be able to give back to them in a way that is so special to me, and them, welcome me with open arms. It just. It means the world to me. So I thank you, Chester, Texas, and the community. I can't wait to serve you and, your family. and like I said, thank you.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Natalie, thank you so much for the compassion, for the excellence, the skill, the way that you use your brilliant academic mind and your hands on clinical skills to serve your community and to really make a difference. I know that you make a difference to your employees, people who work there for you, people who come there for health care. I I know what a big difference it has made and thank you so much. Saying yes to Partner thanks to the Texas A and M students who use their engineering minds Timber. Thank you for going to Nurse Practitioner school and for saying yes to coming and getting your training and now being able to take that back. And Pastor Jordan, thank you for saying yes. Thank you to everybody for saying yes. This is just one of those feel great stories that we can all smile and say okay. When it seems like the world is just going wrong, there is is good news to be found and I pray that you would be challenged to step up in your own community and see where the skill set, the experience, the resources that you have may be able to serve those who are around you. Maybe those even in the local Chester Mall as we heard. But wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I pray as I always do, the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. See you right here next time.

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Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.