Glenmore Hendricks, DNP, ANP-C

Focus On… is a Q&A style interview that highlights a member, a conversation with an authoritative expert, spotlights an innovative program, or profiles a trend. If you have a suggestion for a person or topic we should consider as a future Focus On… subject, please email CANP at admin@canpweb.org.

Glenmore Hendricks, DNP, ANP-C, is a nurse practitioner at the Riverside Medical Clinic. He earned his MS degree as an adult primary care nurse practitioner in 2004 from California State University, Los Angeles, and a DNP from California State University, Long Beach. Over the last 12 years, Hendricks has practiced in both internal medicine and urgent care settings. Throughout his 18-year nursing career he has worked as a critical care nurse (including trauma, surgical and medical care), and has held leadership positions in both hospital and ambulatory care departments. He has been a member of California Association for Nurse Practitioners since 2003, and previously served as treasurer, and president for the Inland Empire Chapter. He is a strong advocate for NP practice and health care policy working to improve both access and quality health care in the state of California. He has just been named co-chair of the CANP Health Policy and Practice Committee (HPPC).

Connections: 
Tell me about your clinical practice and the people you care for.

Hendricks: 
For the past 10 years I have been working in internal medicine, including some work in urgent care. I’ve been at the Riverside Medical Clinic for the past eight years. Our patient base is generally well educated, ranging from blue-collar workers to professionals like physicians, engineers, and professors because we are close to the University of California Riverside. A large portion of our patients are older – people who have lived here many years and who started with our clinic and now their children and grandchildren are seen here, too. We also have a lot of university students. I treat chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and hypertension. Of course, with a population like this they often come in armed with their own information they got from Google. With the world of technology, patients have access to us 24-7.

Connections: 
You have said that care should be tailored to the individual. Why is this approach important?

Hendricks: 
Our patients come from many different places, and everyone has their own preconceived ideas. You have to work with each and meet them at their level. For instance, I had a patient today who was a newly diagnosed diabetic. We were talking about diet. I suggested that he stay with white meat like chicken and turkey and fish. He said, “I’m from Peru. In Peru, we eat the pig from the head to the tail.” And now I have to say you cannot do that anymore because of the cholesterol. This is why I have to move you from white rice to brown rice. We got on Amazon. I showed him where he could buy low-glycemic rice. You learn to integrate modern technology to meet the patients where they are. This patient was very serious about improving his blood sugars and losing weight. He was more than willing to meet me halfway. You have to be open-minded.

Connections:
How did you start engaging in the policies that drive your profession?

Hendricks: 
I joined CANP in 2003 when I was still in school and got involved with the Inland Empire chapter. I was president at one point, served as treasurer and VP. We got to know our legislators. We spent a lot of time with them on their community projects. It was good for us because it increased our visibility. Legislators didn’t even know who we were, even though some of them were being seen for their primary care by NPs. Our area legislator’s passion was sickle cell anemia, and she had had a symposium in collaboration with Loma Linda University and the UCLA School of Medicine. We got on board and sponsored part of it.

Engagement also helped us build our membership. There were 300 NPs in the area and our membership was 60. People didn’t see a reason to be part of the association. Students didn’t even know we existed. We wanted to speak with one voice to accomplish some of the things we wanted to do. Today we are over 250 members.

On the state level, much of my involvement has been around Lobby Day and participation in the House of Delegates. I have been on the HPPC on and off for about seven years. We get involved with bills that come out, speak to our legislators here or in Sacramento about our role and why we need a bill, why it’s important to support or not to support.

Connections: 
AB 890 was a hard-fought success for CANP. How does it feel to have accomplished this legislation?

Hendricks: 
We have much to celebrate because yes, it’s been a long journey, but it’s not over. We did not get everything we wanted, but we have to accept that we have a California solution to our practice issue, and it’s even more of a motivator to continue because we couldn’t have gotten this far without people like Assemblymember Jim Wood and the dedicated others who have stuck around over the years to make this possible. It will be interesting going forward to see what the AB 890 regulations will be, and how that will impact us. Will it create an environment where they strip away barriers impeding our practice, or will they create more fences? This is where the HPPC comes in, as a council of experts that will guide our board moving forward.

Connections: 
What do you hope to bring to the HPPC Committee as co-chair?

Hendricks:
I want us to continue the vigorous discussions we have been having. l would also like to look at other areas where we can provide our support legislatively. We have telemedicine that came out of the COVID pandemic, issues with mental health, climate change. Hopefully with my leadership in this cycle we can move into some of those areas to display some of the versatility of NPs. We are not just here to fulfill practice authority, but to improve the health of Californians and to improve access to care overall.

Connections: 
What are the greatest challenges and opportunities for CANP?

Hendricks: 
The greatest challenge is membership, and how we can get people to come home and be a part of us. We are the largest state, with the largest number of NPs. But we have a relatively small membership in our organization. One of the challenges is getting our own colleagues on board to increase our numbers, increase our power and increase the funds into the PAC so we can be more effective. I hope we can sell ourselves more to our own colleagues and just bring them on board. There are so many things we can’t do now that we should be able to do.

Connections: 
What message to do you have for NPs statewide?

Hendricks: 
Get engaged. We are not always going to get it right. But the more people who are involved and the more feedback we can have the better chance we have to make the best decisions. We have AB 890 now as the law of the land. That will be with us a very long time. Let’s work together to improve it. It will take years. Let’s work on increasing access and decrease barriers. We can’t accomplish this if we are not united.