Natasha Gay, a Baton Rouge native, has joined Mary Bird Perkins’ Prevention on the Go (POGO) team as its newest nurse practitioner. It’s a role she believes she was meant for.
“I believe things happen for a reason and that you should never give up on your dreams,” she says. “When I decided to move on from my last job, God placed me here.”
Natasha has been a nurse for eight years and a nurse practitioner for the past two. Now, she’s the sole full-time provider for all cancer screenings on the Prevention on the Go (POGO) team, which brings preventive services directly to communities across the state and southwest Mississippi.
Nurse practitioners are highly trained in advanced clinical care. In her new role, Natasha provides screenings (and personal follow ups when results come back abnormal), expedites wait times, and keeps cervical cancer screenings moving by performing biopsies and contributing to other procedures and workflows. The latter is especially important given POGO’s ever-growing reach and participant numbers.
“(I like) meeting different people from different backgrounds,” she says.
Natasha’s journey into healthcare began with her family. While an inspirational aunt provided the initial spark, it took a tragedy involving her grandmother – on the night the family returned from a vacation – to truly set her on the path to her future career.
“An ambulance came to the house after she had a heart attack right as we walked through the door,” she recalls. “She passed away that same night. Since that day, that was when I decided I wanted to be a nurse, and that’s what I did.”
It was another health scare, this time with her mother, that led her on the path to Mary Bird Perkins.
“My mom found out she had gastric cancer last year,” Natasha says. “There were no signs of cancer in the family at all … (she had) no symptoms, no anything at all. She had a gastrectomy and is now free of cancer, and she’s back at work. She’s working, doing great.”
Having seen first-hand how people in her role can change lives, Natasha’s passion for her work is deeply personal.
“I’m out helping people that really need help,” she says.
About Prevention on the Go
Mary Bird Perkins’ Prevention on the Go program delivers free cancer screenings and education directly to communities across Louisiana and southwest Mississippi thanks to generous donor funding. Like to know more about the program, including how to schedule a screening? Visit our website at marybird.org/get-screened