Health Center Hero Spotlight: Charlotte Wilson, FNP-BC
Deciding which career to pursue is one of the biggest decisions anyone will make. Some might know exactly what they want to do as early as middle school – maybe they are following in a parent’s footsteps or have already identified what they are passionate about. Others might start out in one field and then change careers a little later in life. But for one Nurse Practitioner, her career path came to her in a dream.
“I was raised as a woman of faith and purpose has always been a big conversation in my family. I was talking to my mom, and I was like, I just don’t feel like I know what my purpose is, and my mom said you need to pray. I remember having a dream that I was a nurse. And when I woke up, I knew,” recalled Charlotte Wilson, FNP-BC.
Originally from Hazelwood, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Wilson is a Family Nurse Practitioner at Primary Care Health Services (PCHS), a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with several locations in Allegheny County providing quality health care and ongoing health education to the medically underserved community. FQHCs, commonly known as Community Health Centers (CHCs), make up the largest network of primary healthcare providers in the Commonwealth, serving nearly a million patients annually at over 400 sites in underserved rural and urban areas. These mission-focused health centers provide integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health care services for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status.
Following her dream revelation, Wilson wrote out her vision and mission statement and began her journey towards becoming a nurse with the ultimate goal of becoming a Nurse Practitioner. She enrolled in the Registered Nurse program at the Community College of Allegheny County and took the time she needed to achieve the first step in her goal. As a young mother, it wasn’t easy. However, she clung to that vision statement that she still has to this day and persevered.
“CCAC was supposed to be a 16-month program. It took me 5 years to finish the associate’s degree there and I could have given up several times, but I wanted it so bad. I had to stay the course and just stay focused,” Wilson explained.
Once she completed her associate’s degree, Wilson began working at UPMC as an RN. She took advantage of the tuition assistance program to enroll in Carlow University’s RN to BSN bachelor’s degree program and then continued her education there in the Nurse Practitioner program. As she was completing her master’s degree, an opportunity to complete a Nurse Practitioner Residency pilot program was presented to her class by Dr. Deborah Mitchum, Chair of the Department of Graduate Nursing, who is a mentor and source of inspiration and encouragement to Wilson.
The Nurse Practitioner Residency pilot program, funded by a grant from the Department of Health and established through a partnership between Carlow University and the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers, provided an opportunity for family nurse practitioners to complete a one-year paid residency in a CHC to build clinical judgement and develop knowledge and confidence as they transition from their educational program into independent practice.
This opportunity struck a chord in Wilson, and after applying and several rounds of interviews, she was selected to participate in this program at Primary Care Health Services, a CHC that her extended family uses in her home neighborhood of Hazelwood.
“This was a residency program, but it was focused on Federally Qualified Health Centers and the community setting, so it really spoke to me. I had a desire to work for the communities that raised me, and I loved the idea of a residency,” Wilson explained.
One of the most important lessons she learned in her residency that has fueled her passion for helping her community was how to navigate social drivers of health and the effect they have on her patients when providing care plans.
“I’m learning how much social drivers of health affect my patient outcomes and affect how I care for my patients and the additional things I do to try to encourage compliance and to meet my patients where they are. If somebody is hungry, they can’t hear you, you know? So, it’s meeting that need and trying to connect with them before I can go into the medical aspect.”
Wilson completed her residency in September 2024 and was subsequently offered permanent employment at Primary Care Health Services. For her, it was an easy decision to stay at the health center, which offers a caring, supportive environment for medical staff and providers and a mission and vision that parallels her own.
Wilson continues to dedicate her practice to helping her patients get access to the resources they need and even gets other members of the community involved. For example, about 87% of Wilson’s patients struggle with hypertension, and many of these patients have a difficult time taking time off work or getting transportation to come into the office to monitor their blood pressure. This condition can be monitored with telehealth visits to make it easier for the patients, however the at home blood pressure cuffs needed for telehealth visits are typically not covered by their insurance. Wilson reached out to her community to raise funds to purchase a handful of blood pressure cuffs to provide to her patients at no charge.
“I think providers should consider working at CHCs because you want to bring your expertise and high-level quality care to the people who need it most. If you have a heart for service, this is somewhere you would want to be because the people need you and everybody is deserving of having high quality care,” Wilson advised.
All said and done, it took Wilson 16 years to realize her dream of becoming a Nurse Practitioner. And despite the challenges she faced, she has won multiple awards, including the Carlow University Outstanding Student Excellence Award in 2023 and the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners’ Dr. Joyce Penrose award in 2024. She also gave the commencement address at her master’s degree graduation. She is also currently serving as an adjunct faculty member at Carlow, training the next generation of Nurse Practitioners.
“Staying the course was a big deal to me and it was validated when my daughter told me she wants to be a therapist, which requires a master’s degree, and she said she’s not afraid of school because she watched me do it. I didn’t know that I have been an inspiration to my kids until she said that.”
If you would like to explore a rewarding career in one of Pennsylvania’s Community Health Centers, the Pennsylvania Primary Care Career Center is here to help. The PA Primary Care Career Center, part of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers and funded by a generous grant from the Department of Health, serves as a free resource to match primary care providers and staff, such as physicians, dentists, medical assistants, and front office staff, with compatible job opportunities at Community Health Centers and other safety net facilities. For more information, visit the Career Center’s website at https://paprimarycarecareers.org/.