MILWAUKEE — Through building healthy communities, nurse practitioners Octavia Manuel-Wright and Clarissa Lawrence are inspiring others to follow their dreams no matter the circumstances and no matter what other people say.
The two women have known each other for over two decades. Now, they joke about being work wives.
"When we first started I was like, 'you know we're kind of like married now?'" Manuel-Wright said with a laugh.
Earlier this year, the two nurse practitioners teamed up and opened Revive Integrated Health Center on 76th between Good Hope Rd. and Bradley Rd.
Lawrence is a certified family nurse practitioner. Manuel-Wright is a certified psychiatric and primary care nurse practitioner. Together, they provide care for the whole patient from the body to mind.
The idea for their nurse practitioner-owned clinic sprouted during the pandemic.
"We saw all of the health disparities and we saw the need for primary care we saw the need for psychiatric care or mental health care. So, It only made sense for us to come together to bring this service to our community," Lawrence said.
They especially saw how the pandemic not only impacted people's physical health but their mental health.
"In our community, there are a lot of stigmas [around mental health]. People will try to do things like we can pray it off, or we can just sleep it off. Or there's nothing wrong with you so just don't listen to it. We have to teach that there is nothing wrong with getting help, with seeking care," Manuel-Wright said. "The same way we take care of our bodies, we also have to take care of our mind."
Both women are from Milwaukee and live in the area their clinic now serves.
"The community we serve looks like us, a majority of them. I feel like they trust us, I feel like they believe that we can relate better. So that is key, trust," Lawrence said. "It's not about us. It's about the community. This not our clinic, this is the community's clinic."
Manuel-Wright pointed to some of her own experiences being a patient that has informed and shaped the way she approaches her work now.
"I've been in situations where I feel like I wasn't heard, there was a lack of empathy, I felt like there was a lack of urgency. There's statistics and research that shows people of color are not given that same type of care that other people are. And so I think that's what we're here to do," Manuel-Wright said.
One of their missions is to make sure health care is accessible to low-income and vulnerable populations in the Milwaukee area. To them, it's personal, which is why they made it point to accept most insurance as well as Medicaid and medicare.
"As a teen mother I was on Medicaid, Title 19, so I know how it feels to have Title 19 insurance and not receive the same amount of time with providers, the same amount of treatment versus having commercial insurance," Lawrence shared. "We want to provide care to everyone. We don't want anyone to fall through the cracks."
Manuel-Wright also shared that she was a teen mom. Because of that, she was often told of all she couldn't do. But she said she didn't listen.
"I had people doubting me and telling me what I couldn't do, what I wouldn't do. My motto is I can do anything," Manuel-Wright said. "You take the L's, you take the losses, and then you keep going. So what's what I say, there is nothing that I feel like I can't do."
Their clinic is proof of Manuel-Wright's motto.
The clinic is taking new patients. To get in contact with Lawrence,click here. To get in touch with Manuel-Wright, click here.
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