Humankindness at Work: Kyra Gambrel, APRN

When family nurse practitioner Kyra Gambrel sees patients at Saint Joseph London, she might start by asking them how a family member is doing and to see recent photos of their grandkids. It’s a measure of how much she is both of and part of the tri-county area of Whitley, Laurel and Knox counties, which the ministry serves.

Gambrel was born and raised in Williamsburg; she and her husband, James, who is supervisor of imaging at Saint Joseph London, live in Corbin. “I understand the culture and that in itself allows me connect better with my patients,” she said. “I feel like I foster more trust and have been able to build really strong relationships with my patients. It’s not just about knowing the patients; it’s about getting to know their family because the family are the ones who eventually end up taking care of a lot of these patients.”

Gambrel’s 24 years in health care began at Baptist Health in Corbin, where she was an emergency room tech. While there, she studied and got her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University. That ER experience laid the foundation for her nursing career and desire to support the people of her community, she said.

“Having grown up in a small community, I started to notice the specific health care needs that people in this area have, and I also noticed that a lot of our rural family doctors were retiring out. We were really having a health care shortage of providers and nurses, too,” Gambrel explained.

After getting her degree, she worked as an ER and intensive care unit nurse at the Corbin hospital for 10 years, and during that time, got her master’s degree as a family nurse practitioner. With an opening in cardiology at Saint Joseph London, she joined the ministry shortly thereafter.

Gambrel not only sees her own patients, she is preparing others to follow in her footsteps. In 2016, she became the Family Nurse Practitioner Program coordinator for University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, developing the curriculum for the online program, which recently went national. She also teaches, which, she said, “helps me stay current on evidence-based practice.” 

Together with her service at Saint Joseph, that amounts to two full-time jobs, but, she said, “I’ve got it down to an art now, I’ve been doing it so long.”

Her work at University of the Cumberlands, as well as her compassion for her patients and thoroughness of her care for them, were both recognized when she was honored as Saint Joseph London’s 2024 APP of the Year.

Gambrel said her values are aligned with the ministry’s—she likes to treat patients like they are family. “We have to be kind to every patient. We’ve got to remember to make it personal, because it’s personal for them. I feel like we always need to show them that what they’re experiencing and what they’re going through, it means something to us, too, to be involved and be able to help. It also means that their values need to be incorporated into their care plan. We need to hear what they want and their wishes, and to foster that.”

She mainly sees outpatients at the cardiology practice, but sometimes makes hospital rounds as well. Cardiology and its complexity always fascinated her, she said. Not long after joining Saint Joseph, Gambrel helped develop an anticoagulation clinic at the cardiology group, enabling patients to manage their medications with a quick visit rather than having to go the hospital lab.

Her community activities include volunteering with White Flag Ministries, which helps shelter and feed unhoused people. She and her husband volunteer once a week and she and a couple of friends cook a meal there once a month for as many as 100 people. 

Gambrel said she loves working and living in a rural area, “where everybody knows everybody.”  She and her husband, who also is a Corbin city commissioner, raised three boys there. The oldest is now a dentist who practices in the area; the middle son serves in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in New Mexico; and the youngest is following in her footsteps, enrolled in the nursing program at University of the Cumberlands.

While she enjoys practicing in a more rural area, Gambrel acknowledges the challenges that brings—patients have fewer options for healthy foods and access to gyms is limited. “In Kentucky we see a lot of COPD, a lot of heart disease, a lot of diabetes,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of patients who are not eating the correct diet and following the no smoking advice we give. So, it makes for a lot more complex patients. It’s difficult sometimes to treat that.”

To help these patients, she collaborates with other local resources and is involved in activities like Go Red, community health fairs and healthy heart events. “I think it’s just getting out into the community and trying to make patients more aware and to understand that there are options, even in rural settings, that can benefit their health. … You have to promote healthy lifestyles and that takes education and awareness,” Gambrel said.