OTTUMWA — There’s a new option for health care in the crowded medical offices around Ottumwa.

Nurse Cynthia Barinsky has opened her independent Get Well Clinic at 2815 North Court Road, which is next to the Fairfield Inn.

As an Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, Barinsky can provide many of the medical services available at a family practice center.

That includes giving stitches.

“I work in the ER in Muscatine on weekends,” she said. “I do lots of suturing there.”

In fact, though Barinsky has a background in family practice, she has gained some interesting and important experience in emergency rooms.

“I’ve been a nurse for 33 years. I’ve seen almost everything,” she said. “Nothing too much surprises me any more.”

That variety is part of what she loves about being an independent health care provider.

“In my second week open, I had 70 patients. We’ve been treating bronchitis, urinary tract infections, lower back pain, a hernia. Just a little bit of everything,” Barinsky said, “and that’s what I like. We’ve been giving shots, breathing treatments, pelvic exams; I’ve been [writing] refills for medications, and I’ve seen a lot of this upper respiratory [trouble] that’s been going around.”

She said if she feels something is beyond her ability, or that a patient needs to see a physician or a specialist, she has no problem telling them that.

“According to the Nurse Practice Act of the State of Iowa, I can do anything I feel comfortable with,” Barinsky said. “In [some] rural areas, all they have are nurse practitioners. I believe this is the way health care is heading.”

The Get Well Clinic accepts most insurance, and those who are uninsured will find her rates are a bit lower than going to see a physician, Barinsky claimed.

But she’s not asking patients to leave their doctors.

“I’m here for people who don’t have a regular doctor, or who can’t get in to see their doctor,” she said.

In fact, doctors and clinics have been telling patients who don’t want to wait days to get seen at their office that there is now a practicing nurse available.