New Faces At MCHC

New faces are joining the staff at Mountrail County Health Center, including a new director of nursing and a new nurse practitioner. April Warren started as a new DON on the hospital side last month. A familiar face, Carol Hynek, is now a new nurse practitioner at the facility.

April Warren started on August 21 and brings a wide range of experience to the job. With a doctorate in organizational leadership, she has been an FNP since 2008. She has worked in emergency medicine, mental/behavioral health and psychiatry. She also founded a private practice in Minot, which she operated for seven years before closing the practice in 2020 because of covid.

She was the department chair of the nursing program at MSU and worked as a nurse practitioner with inpatient psychiatry at Trinity Health. She also was an advanced practice provider and behavioral health division lead. She says that she has always had two or three jobs at a time until now.

Coming to MCHC, she says she is passionate about nursing and clinical excellence. She has a love for rural health. A colleague had reached out to her about the open position and asked if she would be willing to consider the job. While she was not looking for a change, she says that she visited with MCHC and made the decision. She said that she loved the people and the facility’s commitment to the community in providing the best healthcare.

Looking at her job, she says that healthcare is a challenge right now, including staffing crises everywhere. That is where she says rural healthcare becomes even more important, sharing the commitment to clinical excellence and providing comprehensive quality care to the residents of Stanley and the surrounding areas.

She and her husband, Chad, live between Minot and Burlington. Chad is a federal contractor on the Minot Air Force Base and retired military. They have two daughters, Emily and Alaina. Both daughters attend UND and the couple have been empty nesters as of August 18.

In her free time, she says she loves to fish and go to the lake. She also loves to visit family in the UP of Michigan, where her husband calls home. Her parents live in Bismarck.

Carol Hynek will be working in the clinic and ER as a nurse practitioner, having started on August 23. She says that she will be working on her schedule as she continues her facility training, but will be seeing patients on a part-time basis in the clinic.

Hynek was an RN for 15 years, having only worked at MCHC as an RN. She has worn many hats over the years, including at the hospital and nursing home. She has been the care coordinator at the nursing home. She has assisted Dr. Williams with podiatry surgeries. She also helped with the cardiac rehab and taught the medication assistance course. When the facility implemented electronic health records, she was the clinical lead.

Hynek decided to go back to school and earned her doctorate degree in nursing practice and family nurse practitioner from the University of Mary, graduating in April of 2023. She says that she always wanted to advance her education to this level and also wanted to come back to Stanley to practice as this is home.

She too looks at the struggle of staffing rural healthcare. She says that her goal is to provide quality care to the rural residents in the community and surrounding area. Advancing her education, she says, is the best way she could do that and serve the people of the community.

Growing up in Kerkhoven, MN, she met her husband, Blair, at NDSU. The couple has lived in Stanley for the past fifteen years. They have five children, Jack, Ben, Jacob, Abe and Ella. Her hobbies include gardening, outdoor activities and traveling, especially to the mountains. They also include chasing after her five children and all of their activities.

Hynek says that she is excited about returning to MCHC. She says it is a great environment with great staff and a positive attitude. She is excited to work with the clinical staff throughout the facility. As a new provider, she is learning from the current providers. She says as she continues to grow and become more confident as a provider, she looks forward to providing high quality, evidence based care to our rural population. “We are always looking to improve the care we give at MCMC”, says Steph Everett. CEO. “I am thrilled to have April and Carol join our team. This allows us to become even stronger in our goal of providing well-rounded, truly amazing Healthcare for Mountrail County and beyond.”