Health Care Heroes Awards 2023: Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistant
Kacia Yazbak Touissaint
Westerly Hospital physician assistant
What led you to choose health care as your profession? I am a fourth-generation medical provider who felt called by God to serve others and help as many people as I can personally and professionally.
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How have you helped boost the quality of or access to health care? Through my co-role as pediatric emergency care champion with Westerly [Emergency Department] Nurse Manager Betty Gingerella, we prepare the staff in our community hospital to care for critically ill pediatric patients through simulations, teachings and debriefings. I also have the privilege of precepting physician assistant and nurse practitioner students from six different local programs.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? I believe the biggest challenge we face is bed availability and ambulance accessibility when transferring our patients to higher levels of care.
Tell us one thing that most people don’t know about you. I have three beautiful children, two of whom are medically complex (one of which we adopted). They have made me a better person, mother and medical provider. In my spare time, I enjoy riding my horse, Ranger.
