NP Firsts
Leadership, Not Just Management
An Interview with
Gale Adcock, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP
GALE ADCOCK, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, became the first nurse practi-
tioner to be elected to the North Carolina General Assembly when she was
elected on November 4, 2014, to North Carolina's House District 41. Before win-
ning that seat in the state legislature, Ms. Adcock
was the first NP elected to the Cary, North Caroli-
na, town council. Cary is a town of 150,000 known
for its superb quality of life and is on many "Best
Of " lists for being a great place to live and work.
She was reelected in 2011 for another 4-year term
on the town council. Following her reelection, the
other members of the council elected her Mayor
Pro Tem, so she is in her third year as the first NP
to be Mayor Pro Tem in Cary.
Ms. Adcock is also the first NP to hold the posi-
tion of Chief Health Officer at a major US corpora-
tion. Ms. Adcock has held that position for over 20
years at SAS Institute, Inc., the world's largest pri-
vately held software company, where she over-
sees a staff of 58 health care providers—including
physicians, NPs, lab technicians, pharmacists,
psychologists, and nutritionists—who serve the
company's 5400 Cary, NC, headquarters employees and their families with com-
prehensive primary care health services at the on-site health center.
Twenty years ago when SAS decided to transition from an on-site urgent-care
health center to one that provided free comprehensive primary care for all em-
ployees and their families, it was a pioneering step. There were no models of
how to run such a program. Ms. Adcock not only worked with an architect to
help design the building renovations, she also helped create the primary care
health center from the ground up, day-by-day, decision by decision. The center
Inside
NP Firsts ........................... 1
Certification Q&A............; 10
Review Courses............... 13
Malpractice .................... 15
News Briefs ..................... 19
FHEA in the News ......... 24
2015 Live Courses
Clinical Pharmacology
(5 3/4-day course)
NP Essentials Skills and
Workshop
(4- or 2-day courses)
Pharmacology Update
(2-day course)
The Art of Wound Repair
(1-day course)
NP Certification
Exam Review
Course Tracks
Family, Adult-Gerontology,
and Adult Primary Care
Acute Care, Adult-
Gerontology Acute Care
Pediatric Primary Care
Psychiatric & Mental
Health
Women's Health
Click or see page 13
Look for bold orange text
for clickable web links.
Fitzgerald Health Education Associates
f hea.com
1
Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc. 978•794•8366 Volume 14, Issue 11, November 2014
Gale Adcock, MSN, RN,
FNP-BC, FAANP
Representative-Elect,
North Carolina House District 41
Chief Health Officer,
SAS Institute, Inc.
Cary, NC