Heather M. Friend is a family nurse practitioner at the Wellness Center. She joined the team in July 2018.
She has a master’s degree in nursing from Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky and an associate’s degree in nursing from Rogue Community College. She first came to the Wellness Center in late 2017 as a student. Her clinical work as part of her graduate program also gave her experience at a regional hospital, a women’s clinic, and a pediatric practice.
Previously, Heather worked as a registered nurse in the Rogue Valley since 2005, spending 10 years as an emergency room nurse, two years in nuclear medicine doing cardiac studies, and short stints as a labor and delivery nurse and in a post-anesthesia care unit. She also served eight years as a sexual assault nurse examiner with the Jackson County Sexual Assault Response Team.
She is certified by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and is a member of that association and the Institute for Functional Medicine, Integrated Medicine 4 the Under Served, and Sigma Theta Tau, an international honor society of nursing.
Heather grew up in the Rogue Valley and now lives on a 5-acre farm near Rogue River with dairy goats, beef cows, alpacas, bees, and chickens. She has been married since 2001 and has three children at home.
“I have a special interest in holistic, integrative medicine where treating the entire person, not just a symptom, is a priority,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to provide my patients with the support, encouragement, education, and tools they need to improve their lives and overall health outcomes no matter their stage of life.”