New pediatric nurse practitioner welcomed at Albion Walk-in Clinic

Provided photo: Leah Brenner, the new pediatric nurse practitioner at the Albion Walk-in Clinic, has been seeing patients since November.

ALBION – Orleans Community Health continues to increase the services it offers the public, with the announcement of a new staff member at its Albion Walk-in Clinic.

Leah Brenner, a pediatric nurse practitioner, has been seeing patients there since November.

Brenner grew up in Rochester, where she realized at the age of 7 she wanted to be a nurse.

“My sister fell off her bike and lacerated her liver, and when I saw the good care given to her by the nurses, I knew that was what I wanted to do,” Brenner said.

She received her bachelor of science in nursing at Brockport State College, and her master of science as a pediatric nurse practitioner at the University of Rochester. After graduating in 2009 she became a bedside nurse at Strong, until landing her first nurse practitioner job at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 2013.

In 2017 she moved back to Rochester to be with her family, and worked at Rochester General for five years. She spent one year in urgent care in Rochester.

She had been thinking of looking for a new job, and she and her husband had talked about moving to Albion to be near her sister, who lives here.

“I found this job was available and interviewed for it,” Brenner said. “I love it. With me, there are only two pediatric providers in Orleans County.”

Scott Robinson, director of Marketing at Orleans Community Health, said Orleans County is number two in the state for the greatest shortage of doctors. The ratio is 13,500 people to one doctor, he said.

Brenner said there is a huge need for psychiatric nurse practitioners nationwide, and she is going back to school to get certification as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Brenner sees patients from birth until their 22nd birthday. She is available at the walk-in clinic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and she is accepting new patients.

If she had one piece of advice for parents, it would be to be sure to bring their children for their “well child” visits.

“That way, if a child has developmental issues, we can address them early,” she said.

Her second piece of advice is for parents to be aware of their child’s mental health. It is important for parents to talk to their kids and be able to have an open dialogue. If there are concerns about mental health, she encourages parents to discuss it with their primary care doctor.

Brenner and her husband Matthew have three children, ages 14, 9 and 7, and hope to make the move to Albion at the end of this school year.