Danielle Leighton took an unusual path to find her way into the health care profession, and then to her role supporting patients and physicians as a Nurse Practitioner at Liberty Commons.

She grew up in Rhode Island, went to school in Ohio, spent a student year in Spain and another in Germany, worked as a bartender for awhile, and became intrigued with forensic medicine so joined the medical examiner’s office in Boston. From there her interest in becoming a Nurse Practitioner, a level of hands-on care often similar to a physician’s role, pointed her for more schooling in the Boston area and then six years working in Springfield at a community health center.

“I often recommend that health care providers spend some time in a community center, I feel like it was very valuable for me,” she recalls.

Both of her parents were teachers and had been bringing the family to a Cape Cod summer home since 1980, so she was drawn to return to the Cape and took a primary care position in Yarmouth for almost five years, also engaging in hospice work. When a job opening came to her attention at Broad Reach in 2018, she jumped at the opportunity.

“I enjoy it here a great deal,” she says. “It’s challenging. There’s more post-acute medicine than in the usual primary care practice. And unlike a situation where you have appointments every 45 minutes with no wiggle room, here patients are present all the time. You can accomplish what you need to get done if it takes six hours, 10 hours, it’s great that it’s not about timeslots. I can spend 10 minutes with someone or I can spend an hour if that is what’s needed.”

Danielle describes herself as “an extension” of Liberty Commons’ three attending physicans. She can order prescriptions, labs, X-rays, handle discharge visits as patients prepare to go home. She has a lot of autonomy but always refers to a physician if a situation becomes more complicated or needs more interpretation.

“It’s dynamic, which I like,” she says. “We’re not a hospital, not acute care, but sometimes we need to step into that role. Sometimes people who are here become sicker, and that creates higher expectations for us.”

Danielle lives in Brewster, only a mile from her brother. In addition, her teenage daughter is much involved in softball at Monomoy High School so she’s seeing a lot of games and doing a lot of driving. “My daughter and my work,” she smiles, “that’s my little world.”

Actually, she notes, family and work overlap in even more ways: Danielle’s dad made the move from Brewster to assisted living at the Victorian in August, and her daughter’s planning to become a member of the food and beverage team as an after school job -- even more indications of how much she trusts the care at Broad Reach!