After more than 40 years providing care to rural areas, NP Rachelle Hamell is retiring

After caring for patients in Riggins and surrounding communities across five decades, family nurse practitioner Rachelle Hamell is retiring. Her last day at the clinic will be Jan. 2, 2025.

A community open house to celebrate Hamell’s career and retirement will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19 at St. Luke’s Clinic - Salmon River Family Medicine, 214 N. Main Street in Riggins.

Reflecting on her career, caring for patients and being part of a tight-knit community are what Hamell enjoyed most.

“As a medical provider in a rural area, it gives you a unique perspective on what patients need and how best to meet some of those needs,” she said. “It allowed me the opportunity to provide more personal care and dedicate more time, which helped me earn the trust of my patients.”

Hamell’s career choice to be in the medical field was a natural one, a family passion. Her father, grandfather and uncle were physicians; her grandmother and several of her aunts were nurses.

After graduating from Boise State University, she specialized in critical care at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise, followed by a move to La Grande, Ore., to pursue working as a paramedic and registered nurse. Things changed unexpectedly for her and her young family when she was diagnosed with lupus at 27 and had to stop working.

“I was given five years. They told me they were ‘cautiously optimistic,’” Hamell said.

“My husband’s family was in Riggins. I didn’t think we would ever live there, but after my diagnosis we moved to his hometown to be close to family and have support for our young daughters.”

As Hamell focused on her health, an unexpected opportunity became available when doctors from Payette Lakes Medical Clinic in McCall opened a part-time clinic in Riggins in 1984. They saw patients one afternoon a week at the Riggins City Hall and needed a nurse to help support.

Working at the new clinic in Riggins was the perfect opportunity. Hamell was able to return to the career she loved and work on a part-time basis, making sure she was managing her lupus and able to spend time with her family.

Later, the physicians bought a small house located on the Salmon River on Main Street in Riggins. They remodeled the house to be a medical clinic and started seeing patients two afternoons a week. The clinic is still in the same location and became St. Luke’s Clinic- Salmon River Family Medicine when Payette Lakes Medical Clinic joined St. Luke’s Health System in 2010.

Hamell continued to work at the Riggins clinic for 10 years before returning to school to complete her original goal of becoming a nurse practitioner with a focus on rural health care and a passion to improve access to services in rural communities. In addition to her nursing degree from Boise State, she earned her master’s degree from Idaho State University.

“I knew this is what I wanted to do - and it was my goal to return to the Salmon River Clinic,” Hamell said.

Her career as a family nurse practitioner officially began in 1998. She was the first nurse practitioner hired by the Payette Lakes Family Medicine Clinic.

Since Hamell was a nurse practitioner, the Salmon River Clinic was able to be open four days a week, more than doubling the community’s access to heath care. She worked three days a week and the physician visited one day a week.

Since then, the hiring of advanced practice providers has become an integral part of the family medicine clinic’s care team.

“I’m really proud that I was the first and I’m glad it helped open the door for others,” Hamell said.

Being located right on the Salmon River is a view Hamell said she never got tired of seeing and will miss, along with the camaraderie with the clinic team and the physicians she worked with over the years. She especially appreciates the support and mentoring provided by Drs. Dave Hall and Jon Currey.

A new physician assistant, Katie Brown, has been hired to take Hamell’s place. Brown is from Orofino and lives in White Bird with her family.

“I think it will be a smooth transition. She has a passion for rural medicine, and she reminds me of myself when I was younger and starting out,” Hamell said.

Having more free time to spend with her family and traveling are what Hamell is looking forward to most – but the family tradition will continue.

Later this month, Hamell will see her granddaughter graduate from nursing school in Bozeman, Mont., where she will have the special honor of pinning her granddaughter at the ceremony.