KENNETT SQUARE – The University of Pennsylvania’s Medical Center and La Comunidad Hispana’s health center are partnering to create a nurse practitioner program starting Monday.

“LCH’s goal is to expand our health care services to our constituents,” said Margarita Queralt Mirkil, CEO of La Comunidad Hispana.

The Nurse Practitioner Residency Program was developed in an attempt to educate, mentor and develop new nurse practitioners. The focus of La Comunidad Hispana’s clinic is primary care, including pediatric and adolescent care, and complimentary services.

“LCH and Puentes de Salud serve similar communities,” Mirkil said.

Adriane Tuttle, a board certified family nurse practitioner, who joined the Penn Health Center earlier this year as part of the university’s inaugural Nurse Practitioner Residency program. She will be part of the rotation at the Puentes de Salud (Bridges of Hope) clinic in South Philadelphia, through the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

“(Tuttle’s) experience working in South Philadelphia and southern Chester County will benefit the patients at both facilities,” said Mirkil. “Having Adriane Tuttle with us biweekly for clinical rotations is a big step towards meeting our goal.”

Tuttle has also been managing the Chronic Care Initiative program at Project Salud, the nurse-managed clinic of La Comunidad Hispana.

Tuttle graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology and Spanish from Claremont McKenna College in 2003. She was a Fulbright Scholar and performed her Fulbright Fellowship in Bogotá, Colombia, where she worked with the Health Outreach Team and Sexual Health and Gender Program. She has also worked as an HIV Research Coordinator for the PACT Project in Boston, Mass., and as a Health Coordinator in New York. She subsequently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

La Comunidad Hispana was established in 1973 as a community-based nonprofit organization in an effort to empower immigrants and low-income residents in Chester County to stay healthy, build strong families. LCH is a culturally aware, bilingual, bicultural agency that reflects the community it serves.

For more information, go to www.lacomunidadhispania.org or call 610-444-7550, ext. 243.