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AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - Catalina Island Medical Center's Family Nurse Practitioner Karla Parsons will be changing her career path to pursue a long-term goal of being a professor of nursing education.
Late next month she will leave her part-time position at CIMC and begin a teaching career on the mainland. She will continue in her capacity as nurse at Avalon School and, as her schedule allows, will be available to fill in as needed at the medical center.
The nurse practitioner, who remembers attending the hospital's 1960 ribbon cutting with her mother, Avalon nurse Martha Parsons, began working at the hospital as a candy striper when she was a teen. That initial volunteer foray, along with inspiration from her mother, lead Parsons into a life-long career in nursing.
"This hospital is very important to me and will always remain so," she said.
As a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Parsons has been seeing patients as a primary care provider for many years. While she's found much fulfillment caring for the Catalina community, she has had a goal of teaching when she was at a level of skill and competence to best guide and mentor the next generation of nurses. She has been reluctant to pursue her dream until now because she felt her skills were needed at CIMC.
"I think the medical center is at a place now where we have real stability in the medical staff," she said. "I have great confidence with this current group of medical providers."
Bryan Ballard, the medical center's CEO, said that while Parsons will be greatly missed, her abilities and personality will make her an excellent nurse educator.
"Karla's personal attribute of a confident, quiet, caring, listening attitude has been beneficial and appreciated by many members of our community," Ballard said. "It's those same attributes that will carry forward with her in this dream she now will be able to fulfill by not only teaching others but by exemplifying her profession to her students."
Catalina Island Medical Center is currently hiring another family nurse practitioner to replace Parsons. The new FNP will join physicians Dr. Tracey Norton and Dr. Laura Ulibarri. Dr. Monte Mellon will join the medical center's provider team on Feb. 1.
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