By LINDA CHION KENNEY
As a U.S. Army reservist, Ada Tapper learned firsthand the trials and tribulations of nursing, but rather than run from the demands of a gut-wrenching profession, she stayed with it for more than 30 years, now owning a mobile healthcare practice for Hillsborough County residents.
ACT Health Solutions serves people “who have difficulty leaving their homes to get to doctor appointments,” Tapper said. “We basically bring the office to them.”
The ACT mobile practice is for primary, geriatric, chronic, acute and preventative care and for the transition care necessary for patients released from hospital and rehabilitation settings.
En route to her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, Tapper said she learned “There are a lot of people who don’t have access to health care, causing a lot of emergency visits and a lot of gaps in care.” The DNP, as a terminal education degree for nurse practitioners, is the highest degree you can get in a clinical setting.
Tapper said she started her healthcare career as an Army reservist trained as a licensed nurse practitioner (LPN). “I learned about nursing and I started liking it,” she said. “Called up to serve in Desert Storm in 1991, stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, I realized even more the importance of providing nursing care. When I came back, I got my Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, went on to get my Master of Science in Nursing degree and then my DNP.”
For the squeamish who wish they could help fill the need for nurses but know they’re not cut out for it, Tapper said, “there is a time and place for everything that we do.”
“Everyone serves a purpose whether they clean a street or serve as president of the United States,” Tapper said. “It takes all of us to make the world go round.”
For those who are just entering or considering a career in nursing, Tapper’s advice — and plea — is to stick with it.
“There’s a dire need for more nurses out there, and we especially need people who are dedicated to service and to providing competent and compassionate care,” Tapper said. “What greater service is there than helping people in need achieve a greater quality of life by providing the best care possible?”
At ACT Health Solutions, “we sometimes help not only the patient but also the entire family,” Tapper said. “Without mobile providers, many family members are at risk of caregiver burnout and of losing necessary wages.” Especially prone to burnout is the “sandwich generation,” Tapper said, which refers to adults taking care of both children and elderly family members at home.
In addition to running a healthcare practice, Tapper serves also on the board of the Outreach Free Clinic and Resource Center, founded in 1989 by Dr. Stephen Parks and others in the greater Brandon community.
Photo Courtesy ACT Health Solutions
Ada Tapper, DPN, owner of ACT Health Care Solutions
“We deal with people who work but don’t have insurance,” Tapper said. “They fall between the cracks. We don’t get any resources from any government entities, so we definitely depend on people who donate to our cause and to their neighbors in need.”
Falling through the cracks are people “who can’t get Medicaid, because they’re working, or can’t get Medicare, because they’re not yet old enough,” Tapper said. “Some people can’t get regular insurance because they can’t afford it or they’re not eligible. Many part-time workers, including wait staff and fast-food employees, don’t have insurance because they don’t get enough scheduled hours.”
The need for affordable health care is great, Tapper said, noting the setbacks endured from the coronavirus pandemic and inflationary pressures. “Health care should be for everyone,” Tapper said. “As it stands now, a lot of people die from preventable diseases.”
For more on ACT Health Solutions, call 813-324-1604 or visit www.acthealthsol.com/.