New book celebrates women in healthcare and rural EMS

Memoir of first-licensed nurse practitioner on call for Idaho's Salmon River-Sawtooth Country

Moving Mountains launch at Idaho's Capitol Rotunda celebrates origins of Nurse Practitioners and rural EMS; offers solutions for rural healthcare crisis

Links:

• Full news release
• Moving Mountains--creating the Nurse Practitioner and Rural EMS
• www.caxtonpress.com

BOISE, Idaho, Feb. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- America's first state-licensed nurse practitioner (NP), Marie Osborn ARNP, stood in the Idaho Capitol Rotunda on February 11 to release her memoir Moving Mountains, celebrate the NP profession, and call attention to the growing crisis in rural healthcare. Standing with her were former healthcare leaders, volunteer EMTs, and her student interns-turned-physicians.

"Moving Mountains celebrates those who created the healthcare system in Idaho's isolated Sawtooth-Salmon River country," said Marie. "A half-century ago we created a volunteer-based emergency medical system that is now in trouble in Idaho and across rural America."

Marie was a sole provider of healthcare on 24/7 emergency call for nearly 30 years, covering 6,000 square miles of Idaho's Sawtooth-Salmon River country. Today in the U.S., licensed NPs number over 300,000 and the NP profession has expanded internationally.

Emergency services in many small communities such as Stanley, Idaho, remain volunteer-based. But, America's EMS volunteers are aging and retiring.

"Our EMS safety net is fraying," said Paul Anderson, who served as the first director of Idaho EMS for nineteen years. "A system built on volunteers must sustain itself. This is not an urban versus rural problem. Anyone traveling outside of cities depends on the kindness of strangers to answer the emergency call if they or a loved one is injured."

The book calls on state and federal agencies to step-up support for agency staff to train and serve as volunteer EMT first responders.

"Moving Mountains is about family, community, and creating a model for rural healthcare," said John Osborn, the book's co-author, Marie's son, and a physician who has provided care for Veterans for 40 years. "Marie Osborn broke trail for women and an entirely new profession: nurse practitioners. In looking forward to where we are going, we must look back at our history. This book takes the long view, providing policymakers and public with a roadmap and those unforgettable personal stories."

SOURCE Caxton Press