January WVHAMP Provider Spotlight – Tammy Campbell Cline
JANUARY WVHAMP PROVIDER SPOTLIGHT
Tammy Campbell-Cline
My name is Tammy Campbell-Cline. I am a native of West Virginia, and I have always lived in Raleigh County. I graduated from Morris Harvey College in 1978 with an Associate of Arts Degree in Nursing and from WVU in 1981 with a BSN. After working 3 years in med-surg at a local hospital and 4 years for a gastroenterologist, I have worked the remaining years in primary care.
In 1988, I found my home at New River Health, a community health center in Fayette Co. I saw a great need for medical providers and decided to become a nurse practitioner. I obtained by MSN/FNP from WVU in 1996. I worked for a number of years at New River Health and Access Health in Beckley, WV.
I accepted a position at Cabin Creek Health Systems in January 2018. I work in a small clinic inside the Kanawha Charleston Health Department. The clinic was started in an attempt to see folks who came through the Harm Reduction/Syringe Exchange Program. There was a need for primary care services including care for chronic diseases, birth control, treatment for abscesses, sexually transmitted diseases, and other infectious diseases including HIV, Hep B and Hep C. I was shocked at the number of patients who tested positive for hepatitis C.
I had the opportunity to participate in the first WVHAMP training in March 2020. Since then, I have 29 patients that have finished treatment and have been cured, 7 in current treatment, and have at least 5 that are in the process of getting started with treatment. It is so gratifying to see the patients and tell them they no longer have hepatitis C because they have been cured.
Most of the patients I see have contracted hepatitis C through injection drug use. Addiction, a chronic medical disease, is cunning, baffling, and powerful. It is often accompanied with other physical, mental, and social problems. While there are currently so many programs and efforts to treat patients with substance use disorder, there is still so much work to be done.
In addition to working, I have served on the board of Hospice of Southern WV since 2005. I live near Beckley, am married, have two grown sons, three grandchildren, and a rescue dog named Ladybug. I enjoy reading, gardening and have recently been taking painting classes.
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