Over the past year Courtney Pladsen has worn two hats in Maine. The first as a Nurse Practitioner providing direct care including primary, mental health, and substance use treatment at the Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic in Portland, Maine. The second is as a consultant helping to lead three organizations develop and start the state’s first medical respite program. This program will provide residential medical care for people who are homeless and who are too sick to safely recover on the streets or in a shelter, but no longer require hospital level of care. This program is scheduled to open this fall and will be an important step in addressing a significant unmet need in the community.

In the past year Dr. Pladsen was awarded the United Nation’s Nurses With Global Impact Award for her commitment to working with people experiencing homelessness and addressing unmet social needs in primary care including housing.

She is currently in her third year of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders program and her strategic initiative is focused on improving the continuum of healthcare for people experiencing homelessness in Maine.

In other exciting news Courtney and her husband Matt welcomed their first child Ole Kirk Henry March 2020.

Courtney Pladsen, DNP, FNP-BC, RN | Photo Credit: Nurses With Global Impact, Inc.