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NP Kelley Burg marks three years at clinic dedicated to Tyson workers
WILLIAM NORTHCUTT
Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Director at Bright Blue Health in Dyersburg is celebrating her third anniversary with the clinic, which exclusively treats employees from the area plants and hatcheries of the Tyson Foods company, including those from the newly acquired Williams Sausage.
Burg is well known to the medical community, having taught and trained many of the area’s nurses, and she is well-known to many in this area because she has cared for Tennesseans for over 40 years.
She was a tenured Associate Professor of Nursing at Dyersburg State Community College for many years. She taught as an adjunct at the University of Memphis. She added, “I also taught all areas of nursing in the RN program at Blytheville, Arkansas--formerly Mississippi County Community College.” She served as a Nurse Practitioner (NP) “in internal med/family practice with West Tenn Medical Group here in Dyersburg.” Prior to that, she worked in many areas in a hospital setting, including ICU and ER, and she was a nursing supervisor.
But she came to work for Bright Blue when they opened their clinic in Dyersburg in 2021. She said the health care provider evaluated places needing their clinics, “They were looking at rural areas. They were looking at poverty levels. They were looking at access to care, at how many people frequent the ER for non-emergency reasons.”
And while Burg has had an illustrious career, she said that serving Tyson’s employees gives her a lot of satisfaction. “Some of the patients we take care of have never had a PCP. They’ve gone to urgent care when they have to, or...sent to a specialist, but nobody put the whole picture together.”
She said that in these cases, “There’s no continuity of care, and so I tell everybody, ‘I’m kind of like the quarterback now. I’m going to take care of you. I’m your team leader. We’re going to work together to achieve your healthcare goals.’”
Burg explained that she especially likes the ability to provide continuity. She said that if she sends a patient to a specialist, she’ll send the specialist data and get back data from the specialist, and in so doing, can better know how to treat someone. She also said that she serves as her patients’ “medical advocate” in such cases, taking time to explain treatments and illnesses to them and to show them how to take care of themselves.
At the clinic, she works closely with the behavioral therapist when a patient needs treatment for mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, prescribing necessary medicines and monitoring the physiological aspects of care. “Holistic care,” she calls it.
Her methods have made a difference in the lives of Tyson employees. One male employee came in for care. He had “slightly elevated blood pressure, slightly elevated cholesterol.” After much testing, she and specialists could find nothing wrong. He then mentioned a tingling on one side of his body. She sent him to a neurologist could find nothing, so she sent the patient to a cardiologist. He had, it turned out, major vessel blockages. Her care helped to save the man’s life. She reported that the cardiologist said of the patient, ‘He’s one of those guys you’d look at and think, he looked like the picture of health…and one day he just fell down dead.”
Burg is also happy that she is able to give her patients time. So often now, she said, health care professionals have to rush through patients because they are paid by the number they see. And she saves patients time, too, because she is able to immediately send “doctors excuses” directly to the Tyson facilities. The worker does not have to keep up with the note.
And, according to Burg, she is able to give care to those who speak Spanish, and she said that almost a quarter of Tyson’s employees are Spanish-speaking. Bright Blue has a dedicated interpreter.
Most of Tyson’s employees participate in their insurance program, and having the clinic means costs for employees and the employer are significantly reduced. Burg said that the employees pay nothing out of pocket, and when, during their first visits, they get a complete work-up of labs and a head-to-toe physical they save a significant amount by having a dedicated clinic. She said, “That means they’re more likely to get the care they need.”