PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
Her first job as a nurse practitioner was with Associates
in Infectious Diseases in Fort Pierce, working with Dr. Moti
Rampopal, treating, diagnosing and evaluating patients with
infectious diseases. She did rounds at Lawnwood Regional
Medical Center and St. Lucie Medical Center as well as seeing
patients in the office. In 2009 she began employment at Heart
and Family Health Institute under the guidance of family
practice physician Dr. Ira Pearlstine. She also received an
introduction to rheumatology under Dr. Mark Greenberg.
“Dr. Greenberg had to be out for medical reasons and asked
me to cover his patients while he was gone,” Porth Healy
says. “When he came back, he thanked me for working with
his patients and noted how well I had done, considering that
I didn’t have any rheumatology training. He asked me to
work with him; he sort of took me under his wing.
“He was one of my greatest mentors. He taught me, well,
everything I know about rheumatology. We eventually went
into our own practice in the same building. When he retired
from the practice and went into teaching at the University of
South Carolina, we moved all of the patients to Rheumatology
to take care of themselves. There is medication that can help
them. So, to give them back a part of themselves that they lost
makes me feel very rewarded.”
Taking a straight path toward her career goal has afforded
Porth Healy the ability to work part-time and still provide
for her children. Watching her example, both of her younger
sisters also studied nursing and work in different aspects of
the medical field.
“To sum it up,” Porth Healy says, “I guess it is the empathy.
It was so good that I stumbled across Dr. Greenburg. I
think it was God’s plan for me.” E
THE PALMS OF ST. LUCIE WEST
FORT
Port St. Lucie Magazine 39
Associates in Stuart.”
The mother of two small children, Porth Healy later took a
job closer to home, in the St. Lucie West office of Dr. Pamer.
She treats patients with diseases of the joints, such as inflammatory
arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and
osteoarthritis, as well as patients with autoimmune illnesses,
including lupus, scleroderma or Sjogren’s disease.
“I knew I wanted to do some kind of specialty,” she says. “I
wanted to delve into something and get very specific knowledge.
With rheumatology, you can bring back quality of life.
The patients deal with a lot of pain, fatigue and an inability
LINDSEY RACHELLE PORTH HEALY
Age: 34
Lives in: Fort Pierce
Occupation: Family nurse practitioner
Family: Daughter, Leila, 2;
son, Leith, 1.
Education: Associate of science
degree in nursing, Indian River
State College, 2005; Bachelor of Science in nursing, Master of
Science in nursing, family nurse practitioner degree, advanced
track program at Florida Atlantic University, 2008.
Hobbies: “Spending time with my children; reading; anything
to do with the ocean.”
Who or what inspires me: “God, my children and my mom.”
Something most people don’t know about me: “I was born
and raised here in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce, and all of
my family lives here on the Treasure Coast.”
FORT
PIERCE
PIERCE
/www.thepalmsofstluciewest.com