STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. – Some people move away from their hometowns. For many, the twists and turns of life never lead them back home again.
However, that’s not the case for a number of practitioners who have returned to Ste. Genevieve to practice medicine at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, including one of its newest staff members, Nurse Practitioner Elizabeth Ley.
In the 11 years since graduating at the top of her class at Valle, she has pursued her medical career.
She received her nursing degree from University of Missouri at Columbia. Ley has explored a number of nursing avenues from the Emergency Department to Home Health to Clinical Cancer Trials.
Along the way, she has received extensive clinical experience from a many SGCMH practitioners including Rikki Schaefer, PA, Melissa Naeger, FNP, Kelly Donze, CNM, WHNP, Anne Wolk, FNP and Holly Huelskamp, FNP.
“During college, I was a pre-med major and I shadowed Kelly Donze in Women’s Health and I just loved that experience,” she said. “I changed my whole focus. My goal as a nurse was to become a family nurse practitioner and work either in family practice as a family care provider or work in a walk-in clinic.”
Her interest in primary care is two-fold.
“Once you do primary care, you know a little bit about a lot of things so you can choose to practice in any number of areas,” she said. “But I’ve always wanted to make relationships with my patients and really get to know them. So, I think primary care is where I’ll probably stay. I think it’s my niche.”
Coming back to Ste. Genevieve to practice medicine has always been on Elizabeth’s radar.
“I got the hospital scholarship in high school, and when I got to college, I learned that rural areas are underserved so I always wanted to come back and treat the people that were most in need. Plus, they’re my people. It’s nice to come back to the town where you grew up and give back to the community that gave you your roots.”
Elizabeth has only been at SGCMH for a month or so, but she already feels like she is where she wants to be.
“Things have been great so far,” she said. “I know a lot of the people I’m treating, which I always think it’s nice to see a familiar face when you come to the doctor. No one likes to be at the doctor’s office.”
Elizabeth and her family currently live thirty minutes north of Ste. Genevieve, but hope to find some land in Ste. Genevieve sometime in the near future. She and her husband Kyle have two and a half children—a four-year-old, three-year-old and one on the way in November. As a family, they enjoy fishing and going on hikes.
“We love to be active, and the kids are a little wild, but it’s all fun.”
Elizabeth currently works in the Bloomsdale and Ste. Genevieve walk-in clinics.
Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital is a nonprofit county owned community hospital that works to continue to improve the health and well-being of the community. Our professional staff uses advanced technology and medicine to provide excellent, personalized, and compassionate healthcare.