Newsday
It takes a village to raise a child well, as the African proverb goes, and nurse practitioner Tia Knight-Forbes says her village is Amityville.
After working for local providers for several years, Knight-Forbes cut the ribbon for her own practice, ITAV-NP Family Health, in March in her hometown of Amityville. That abbreviation stands for It Takes a Village-Nurse Practitioner, and as a Black health care provider serving a Black community, it’s a message she lives by…
…Just 5% of physicians nationwide are Black, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. However, on Long Island the population of Black nurse practitioners is roughly equal to the Black population at 11% and 9%, respectively, according to a 2021 report from the University at Albany’s Center for Health Work Force Studies.
“As the state’s population grows and becomes more diverse, a diverse NP [nurse practitioner] workforce not only assures an adequate supply of health workers, but also supports the provision of culturally competent health care,” the report states…