Terry Kallner is a certified family nurse practitioner and a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, but it was not always so. Terry grew up in Guilderland, NY, and returned to the local community to practice medicine, but his journey toured the state of New York. It started with his first summer job, working in a local independent pharmacy in the Arbor Hill neighborhood of Albany. He appreciated the difference that health professionals can make in a community. Upon graduating high school, Terry did the teenage thing and moved as far away as possible while retaining in-state tuition, attending the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, NY, and earning a Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences. He returned home afterward to help in the ministries of his local church, and while doing so, he completed the nursing program at Ellis School of Nursing in Schenectady, NY.
As a registered nurse, Terry worked mainly in the emergency department of Ellis Hospital. While there, he found a much greater appreciation for the ongoing healthcare maintenance that primary care providers can provide after patients leave the four walls of the hospital. And so his journey continued, bringing him to the family nurse practitioner program at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY. To support himself and his wife during this time, he worked in the emergency departments of Albany Memorial, Samaritan, and St. Peter’s Hospitals. He eventually earned a Master of Science in nursing and accreditation as a family nurse practitioner.
As a family nurse practitioner, his next several years were spent in a Federally Qualified Health Center, continuing his work with the underserved community that began with his summer job in Arbor Hill and continued through the various local emergency departments. This patient population included many people with diabetes, substance abuse disorders, mental health issues, and all manner of other chronic illnesses that require ongoing diligence to combat. Through this work, he developed the tenacity to keep working with his patients, even through difficult times, step-by-step. Through this work, he also developed the empathy to appreciate his patients’ goals, even when they differ from his own. Finally, through this work, Terry learned that it’s not enough to have the medically-correct answers, but a PCP has to empower patients to take charge of their own health. For just as the ongoing health of a patient relies less on the ED doctor, who sees them once, than it does on their PCP, who sees them repeatedly, so the ongoing health of a patient relies less on the PCP, who only sees them occasionally, than it does on their own daily decisions. What Terry loves most about being a primary care nurse practitioner is seeing patients achieve their health goals. To help facilitate this, Terry’s most important goal is to achieve a holistic view of his patients through careful record review and discussion. Only then can he help facilitate the creation and implementation of his patient’s health goals by giving patients objective data to use to make their own decisions. Their decisions might be different from his. They might not want to ride alongside his motorcycle or help him and his friends make homemade wine. And that’s okay.
My job as a provider is to equip you with the information and guidance you need to set realistic health goals and make independent choices commensurate to fulfilling those goals. Frailty and failure are parts of fallen humanity, so I will endeavor to be kind and compassionate should your decisions fail to meet your target. However, to meet both your goals and mine, I will also endeavor to be honest with you, giving honest judgments and objective information to help you meet your goals.