Communication Services

CNC now has a Family Nurse Practitioner on campus providing primary care services to students.

Sherry Preston has more than 26 years of nursing experience as a public health nurse and has taught in the practical nursing and nursing programs at the college for the last eight years. She is now available to see CNC students Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“This is an awesome thing for CNC to be able to provide this service,” said Preston, who just completed her Master’s of Science of Nursing/Family Nurse Practitioner at UNBC. “This is filling an identified gap in health-care services.”

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with advanced practice education that prepares them to diagnose/treat common health problems including prescribing medications, ordering tests and referring patients to other health-care providers including physician specialists. They can also order and interpret X-rays, lab work and other tests.

“Anything that is out of our scope or we are concerned about we consult with and/or refer to a physician,” said Preston. “Our goal is providing primary care for students. It’s for those students who don’t have a family doctor or those that require non-urgent walk in services. If students think they require urgent or emergency care, they should go to the emergency department.”

Students need to fill out a brief medical history in the counseling/disability services department prior to seeing Preston on the third floor. Preston’s office is located in Room 3-118 in the nursing department.

Clients can drop-in on a first-come, first-serve basis Wednesday and Thursday mornings between 9 and 11 a.m. or book appointments for Wednesdays (1:30 – 3:30 p.m.) or Thursdays (1:30 – 4:30 p.m.) Drop-in and scheduled appointments can be booked through Irene Huxter, Disability Support Services (Local 5301, Room 1-753) or students can e-mail health@cnc.bc.ca.