Kim Oelke:  

Hi everyone! I was Kim Knighten, the daughter of Bill and Sharon Knighten. My father was a letter carrier and my mother taught Home Economics at MHS. After graduation from high school, I attended the U of A for 3 years, then transferred to UAMS where I received my BSN and Nurse Practitioner certification. I married James Oelke, whom I met at the U of A, in 1980 and we had our first son, Matthew, in 1982. I worked for UAMS for 3 years, first as an RN, then as an NP for the research department. Then I spent 9 years working for a cardiology group in Little Rock. Our second son, Wesley, was born in 1991. In 1994, we moved to Harrison, AR where I took a job with the Harrison hospital as a primary care provider in one of their rural health clinics. During the next 15 years I worked for NARMC as a Nurse Practitioner in all 4 of their rural clinics at one time or another. I really enjoyed Family Practice and had a busy and fulfilling career. In 2009, Skaggs Regional Medical Center in Branson, MO made me an offer I could not refuse, so I went to work for them in one of their rural clinics in Hollister, MO. When the physician I was working with decided to accept a job running their Urgent Care center, he persuaded me to join him there. During this time, I obtained my MSN from the U of A. In 2010, I went to part time work at Urgent Care and started teaching part time for U of A. Then in 2013, the U of A offered me more hours, so I decided to teach only. All of our parents are deceased. Both f...Expand for more