Family nurse practitioner Jeff Lourie has brought his passion for primary care to the Gifford Health Center at Berlin.
A Cape Elizabeth, Maine, native, Lourie attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., earning his bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry. He went on to work in a research lab studying organic chemical synthesis before discovering that what he really wanted to do was help people – hands on.
He became a certified nursing assistant in his native Maine, and then went on to pursue his family nurse practitioner degree at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
From there he was certain of his career path: rural, primary care.
“It’s where you can really make a difference,” he says of primary care, noting that difference comes in the bonds formed with whole families. “When you see two, three, four generations of families, you really get to understand why things happen.”
Lourie worked for three years at a rural family practice in Wilton, Maine, before moving with his wife, Emily, to her native Vermont in 2013. The couple moved to Barre and Lourie went to work at Berlin Family Practice as a practitioner for Fletcher Allen Health Care.
This month he joined the Gifford Health Center at Berlin, part of Gifford Health Care in Randolph.
In Berlin, Lourie works with family nurse practitioner Tara Meyer in providing primary care at the multi-specialty health center located just off Airport Road.
Board certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, Lourie is a member of the American Nurses Association, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and is on the board of The Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association.
He brings clinical interests in diabetes management, weight loss, preventative care and pediatrics to the health center. He is also a certified medical examiner for those seeking a commercial driver’s license.
As a primary care provider, Lourie sees his role in part as a motivator and in part as an advocate for patient goals.
“My goal is to partner with patients,” he says. “I want to work on the issues that they want to work on.”
Lourie is seeing new patients of all ages. Call him at the Gifford Health Center at Berlin at (802) 229-2325.
