Bellingham Family Health Clinic.(business births) - Bellingham Business Journal

Owner: Bonnie Sprague

Address: 302 36th St. (in Sehome Village)

Phone number: 756-9793

Web address: www.BellinghamHealth.com

Square footage: 1,500

Startup date: May 23

They don't really look like physicians and they don't really act like physicians, but the nurse practitioners at Bellingham Family Health Clinic perform many of the same duties as physicians.

The two nurse practitioners at the clinic in Sehome Village offer pregnancy tests, strep and mono tests, liver function tests and draw blood.

They give injections for birth control and vitamin B12 supplements as well as for a range of vaccines. They can prescribe medications, although they tend not to prescribe many narcotics and they charge about the same as physicians do for similar services.

Owner and nurse practitioner Bonnie Sprague said nurse practitioners tend to take a more holistic approach to health care and focus on the 'whole person.'

'The draw is that there is more connection,' she said. 'You'll be listened to.'

Whereas physicians tend to have training in a hospital setting, nurse practitioners are trained in clinics, giving them a different perspective from spending a great deal of time with patients.

Six years ago, after working at Interfaith Community Health as a nurse practitioner for 13 years, Sprague turned this perspective into her own small clinic in the Squalicum area, staffed by nurse practitioners and nurses, no physicians.

In May, she closed that clinic and opened a new one in Sehome Village.

'We felt this location had a lot of people seeing it, a lot of parking, and it's close to the university,' she said.

A large white sign posted in the clinic's window reads 'Welcome Students.' Sprague said she wanted to get away from Squalicum to bring more accessible health care to different areas of town. Sehome was perfect because of its proximity to Western Washington University, and Sprague expects a large portion of her patients to be students.

The clinic has four exam rooms and two nurse practitioners, including Sprague, who specializes in women's health, and Kirsten Curtis, who specializes in dermatology.

While there are a few similar all-nurse-practitioner clinics in Bellingham, Sprague said she thinks the idea is a growing trend because of how full physician clinics have become. She said she hopes her clinic will be able to accommodate walk-in patients.

'There is a need for more access to health care in the primary care realm,' she said.

And with the influx of students for fall quarter and the corresponding flu season in full swing, Sprague's clinic is booming.

'Business is good when it's cold and flu season,' she said.