Sandra E Utsey, APRN | Norton Medical Group

My name is Sassy Utsey. I'm a nurse practitioner with Norton Healthcare. I work in the immediate-care centers. I do what I do because I enjoy working with people and helping them to achieve their optimal health and well-being, and I love working for Norton Healthcare.

I enjoy working in the immediate-care center because I see a very diverse patient population and very diverse conditions, so treating everything from upper respiratory infections to accidental lacerations while you're out working in the yard, splinters, abscesses, that type of thing. So it's very engaging work, and it's always something new and exciting around the corner.

My patient-care philosophy is understanding what the patient needs in the moment and addressing their needs. And it could be that their needs are 100% physical. They could have a component that requires a lot of emotional support and just walking them through the process step by step. And in that journey, we're trying to figure out what their needs are and if we can meet their needs in the immediate-care center, and if not, working to get them to the most appropriate place for them to receive the care that they need.

I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. I have a Master's degree from the University of Phoenix, but then decided to become a nurse practitioner. So I have dual certification, one through Northern Kentucky University where I received my adult primary-care nurse practitioner education, and then the second certification, I did all of my work through the University of Kentucky to obtain an adult gerontology acute-care nurse practitioner certificate.

In my spare time, I stay very busy. I love spending time with my family. I have two adult children. I have an amazing husband. I also have three ridiculously wild Belgian Malinois dogs that require a lot of our attention. Beyond that, I love crafting, camping, reading, just staying busy in the yard. Any type of activities like that, I enjoy tremendously.