About Our Clinic

Provider Stories

We have interviews with People's Community Clinic providers online for your enjoyment. Please click on a name to go to that interview.

Maria Abernathy, RN, FNP: Champion for Teens

Maria Abernathy, RN, FNPMaria Abernathy has spent her entire career working with adolescents. She began her professional life as a high school English teacher in a poor area of Los Angeles. While teaching, one of her students simply stopped attending school. Maria later learned that the girl had become pregnant, never to return. That experience was instrumental in Maria's decision to work with teens in a different capacity--as a medical professional.

After graduating nursing school, Maria served for twenty years as a nurse in the Austin Independent School District, serving middle and high school students at Reagan and LBJ High Schools as well as at Wooten, Pierce, Dobie and Burnet Middle Schools. Many teens would come to her when they feared they might be pregnant and Maria became adept at asking the right questions in a caring way in order to inspire the teen's trust and confidence. When one girl discovered--with Maria's help--that her weight gain and nausea were symptoms of pregnancy and not a lengthy stomach ailment, Maria became knowledgeable about local resources available to pregnant teens.

One such resource was People's Community Clinic. Maria began volunteering at PCC in 1982 during her summers off. When she decided to return to graduate school for nurse practitioner training from 1994 through 1997, she spent many of her clinical practicum hours under the supervision of nurse practitioner Maggie Taylor at PCC.

In 1997 the Clinic began a new teen prenatal program that served the unique needs of pregnant teenagers. Maria was then a nurse practitioner graduate student working at PCC and was asked to become the first program coordinator. She provided direct healthcare and medical case management to the teens.

Soon after the Clinic launched an expansion of the teen prenatal program known as "Tandem." The Tandem Project provides many unique services to teenage mothers in the hopes of preventing subsequent pregnancies. Maria now serves as the primary healthcare provider for Tandem, seeing more than 150 girls each year for the length of their pregnancies and for post-partum care, too. She helps teens understand the stages of pregnancy and the changes they can expect their bodies to make to prepare for birth. She ensures they know the importance of a healthy diet, adequate rest and emotional support.

Maria's practice philosophy with teens is "high touch, low tech." She prefers to use a plastic file box filled with alphabetically organized file cards for each patient instead of a computer. She scribbles notes on those cards that help her know where she left off in conversation with a girl. Typical comments might include, "Having difficulties with the baby's father," "Mom is very supportive," "Says vitamins upset her stomach-advised that she take them with food." Another reason for the portable filing system is that Maria regularly makes follow up calls to patients from home, or in an upstairs office or anywhere she can find a quiet space for follow-up.

Maria describes her hopes for her patients in the short and long term: "I want them to have healthy babies and to be good parents." She sees a connection between the care she provides to teen patients and the prevention of child abuse, something she feels is a source of many social problems. She says, "Many people are surprised that most of the teens wanted to become pregnant and look forward to the births of their babies. Yet, many young parents have histories of abuse and there is risk that they will continue the cycle with their children. Through the Tandem partnership we provide a lot of education and support for them as parents, teaching them how to bond with and enjoy their children, as well as the practical life skills that will hopefully ensure they and their children do not live in poverty."

From caring volunteer to new program champion to beloved nurse practitioner for hundreds of teens each year, Maria Abernathy's twenty-six year tenure with PCC is but one example of the dedicated staff who make People's Community Clinic an exceptional medical home.

Philosopher Doc: Richard Peavey, M.D., Director of Adult Medicine

If he weren't a doctor, Dr. Richard Peavey says he'd be a teacher, but anyone who's been on the receiving end of his often-wise musings knows he would make a darned good philosopher.

Dr. Peavey sees patient Johnny De La CruzDr. Peavey has been with the Clinic since 1999 and today is the Clinic's Director of Adult Medicine. After nearly a decade of caring for PCC patients, he's glad to share his observations about what sets People's Community Clinic apart from other health care settings. There's the fact that patients at PCC are uninsured or face other barriers to accessing medical care. But to hear him tell it, the primary difference between People's Community Clinic and other places in which he's practiced medicine is the degree to which PCC providers offer quality health care in a caring environment.

"A feeling of connection is the essence of human experience, so the best provider/patient relationships are mutual. It's often my patient who provides the greatest positive energy, whether it's serving as an example for overcoming adversity, finding resources or how to cope with difficult circumstances," says Dr. Peavey.

Many of Dr. Peavey's patients come to him with multiple chronic illnesses. Some are referred directly from emergency rooms where they've ended up after their health symptoms erupted into a major problem requiring immediate intervention. A typical patient may have high blood pressure and diabetes. Although both of these illnesses can be managed with medication and ongoing medical care, they become debilitating without oversight.

Dr. Peavey appreciates that the clinic gives him the freedom to spend enough time with patients to fully understand their medical needs and to offer careful recommendations for treatment. Taking time to truly listen to patients also means he earns their trust and gains important details about other aspects of their lives-for example, many face financial barriers that limit their ability to take bed rest advice or pursue a referral for specialty care.

According to Dr. Peavey, "Many of our patients are incredibly hard working and will work until they simply can't. If they're lucky, it will be something patchable. If they are not, their illness or injury can be catastrophic."

The financial challenges of many clinic patients led Dr. Peavey and his fellow clinic providers to develop tools and resources for providing medical care in an extremely cost-effective manner. Some of these tools include developing relationships with specialist providers who can provide deeply discounted or pro bono care. Other well-developed skills involve identifying or developing community resources that might help a patient receive an expensive, but life-preserving medication, or receive assistance with rent while recuperating from surgery.

The clinic's Integrated Behavioral Health program, which treats patients with mild mental illness, is an example of a community resource that Clinic providers have tapped into. Dr. Peavey has been the program's biggest champion.

When there are no resources available to mitigate costs, Dr. Peavey has become expert at the very difficult task of explaining to patients the "gold standard" of care, and the lower cost approximations of that care. Knowing that a lack of resources has a huge negative impact on a patient's ability to access the highest standards of care is painful for a man who sees the intrinsic value in all human life, whether that of a taxi driver or CEO.

When he's not working at People's Community Clinic, Dr. Peavey is rekindling an old hobby of wind sailing. This is a man who enjoys all things outdoors, from raising chickens at his home outside the city limits to camping with his wife and children. True to his closet philosopher self, he also enjoys having lunch with friends and swapping reflections on this grand adventure known as life.

When asked what he would recommend to those considering a career in medicine, he offers, "Medicine is a calling and if you feel it calling you, you should go for it with all your heart." It's clear that Dr. Peavey has internalized his own advice and to the benefit of not only his patients, but to all those lucky enough to work with him, he is practicing medicine with all his heart.

Amanda Johnson, Volunteer Physical Therapist

Read about one of Amanda's patients here!

Amanda JohnsonOne of the many ways that People's Community Clinic serves its patients is through its volunteer medical specialists. People without health insurance often have trouble finding a specialist. The Clinic solves this problem by connecting our patients with medical professionals willing to give of their time and expertise.

Amanda Johnson is one of those people.

Amanda visits PCC once a week to provide physical therapy to patients in need. When she moved to Austin in 2006, she went looking for a place to volunteer her services. She describes her interest in serving PCC patients as motivated by a desire to practice patient-centered therapy, in a supportive and team-oriented medical setting.

"I wanted to treat my patients in the ways that they needed to return to full duty, to return to work and life without impairment or disability. I enjoy providing physical therapy to people who need it. It's rewarding as a medical professional to practice that way."

Amanda knows that many patients at People's Community Clinic have jobs that require hard physical work. Those jobs take a toll on their bodies. When someone needs care because of that kind of work, People's is pleased to be able to provide the kinds of medical services that allow our patients to return to full health, and to return to work.

Amanda enjoys working at the Clinic because of the environment here - the other staff members she works with make her experience a positive one. Here is Amanda's story in her own words.

"Overall, it is a joy to work at the PCC. It's an encouraging place, and staff work well together. I haven't encountered any staff person who hasn't bent over backward to welcome and accommodate me. It's a great place to work for medical professionals. They've accommodated my schedule and timeframe as a volunteer. It allowed me to give what I could give."

"People that are part of service provision for the uninsured are doing it because they are truly concerned about the patient's wellbeing. [The staff] are all grateful for volunteer providers, approachable, and eager to work as a team. It's fantastic. It's getting back to why I entered the medical field in the first place."

Thank you! We are grateful for Amanda's very valuable contribution of care to PCC patients, and to all our volunteer providers for giving so generously of their time and expertise to our patients.