SIDNEY – A nurse practitioner with a passion for substance use treatment has been serving the community since August at her new practice called Scripts360.
Amanda Saunders is a board-certified family nurse practitioner (FNP-BC) and became certified as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) at Upper Valley Career Center, a registered nurse (RN) at RETS Technical School – now called Fortis College – and a family nurse practitioner (FNP) at South University. She has been a nurse for 18 years prior to starting her own practice and has experience with many facets of healthcare such as nursing management, geriatric nursing, and pain and addiction. Scripts360 is also certified through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to perform medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders.
Other than substance use treatment, Scripts360 offers other services such as treatment for diabetes, depression and insomnia, physicals, and lab work.
Saunders’s interest in healthcare and specifically substance use treatment comes from her family experiences.
“My grandmother Esther was a single mother of six who put herself through nursing school, my mother was a state-tested nursing assistant for as far back as I can remember and I have many other family members who are nurses by trade and at heart,” Saunders said. “I guess it’s in my blood.”
“Addiction has hit home in my own family more than once,” Saunders said. “My passion is to help those who others shun, to help the ones who no one else has time for, to encourage those who feel hopeless, to remind them, there is hope, his name is Jesus!”
Scripts360’s slogan is “where faith meets medicine” and the name of the practice has multiple meanings: “Scripts” stands for biblical scriptures and is short for prescriptions, and “360” refers to the mind, body and spirit.
Saunders said her purpose for the name and slogan was to convey that her practice is a space where patients can discuss their health and faith in tandem and “a place with freedom to ask for prayer and bring up God as a part of what makes up them as a person with no fear of rejection or their healthcare provider not understanding how important God is in their life.”
Scripts360 currently has one other employee, Janice Brittingham, who is the receptionist and a phlebotomist, and Amanda Saunders’s husband, Christopher Saunders, also helps manage the practice. Saunders and Nurse Practitioner Frances Yantis of FLY Family Health share the same building but operate independent practices.
“My goal is to help those in my community and then open other offices and help in a larger way,” Saunders said. “That is my heart’s desire to make a difference and to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Saunders shared a quote from author Leo Buscaglia and said it describes the role of a nurse when asked why a patient would decide to visit a nurse practitioner over a family doctor: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring; all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” She also said her motto is “anything worth having is worth fighting for” and “to my current and future patients I say a huge thank you for allowing me to be one small piece of your life. Life is tough, but we can face it, together!”
Scripts360, LLC is located at 829 St. Marys Ave. in Sidney. For more information, visit provider.kareo.com/amanda-saunders, the Scripts360 Facebook page, or call 937-658-6216.
