From Farm Girl to Rural NP

Melissa L. Weber

Alumna Elle Spinner finds joy in the wilderness – and in supporting rural women

Spinner, MS, APRN-CNP, (’94, ’98 MS) lived in the Ohio Stadium dormitory as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University. Stadium residents were given a discount on room and board in exchange for working, and her job cleaning bathrooms was not glamorous. Her dormmates had no idea they were working alongside a future Miss Ohio whose scholarship winnings would propel her to achieve her nurse practitioner license, and that she would provide healthcare to thousands of women in rural Ohio. But then, neither did Spinner.

She was one of a family of five girls who grew up on a farm in Otway, Ohio, located in rural Scioto County. The girls helped cut firewood to heat the house, participated in school sports and were active in their local Catholic church. Music was central to the entire family, including piano lessons and evenings spent singing together while their father played banjo or guitar. Their joy was never overshadowed by their lack of indoor plumbing. 

“Our dad wanted us to know we could survive in the wilderness,” Spinner said. “Or New York City! He expected us to go out in the world and find our own path.”

As part of a high school mentorship program, Spinner shadowed doctors at the local hospital. She realized she preferred the hands-on care provided by the nurses. The decision to attend Ohio State was easy: her favorite older sister was there.

“I love nursing,” she said. “I want to keep doing this. I’m a problem solver and a patient advocate.” 

Spinner was delighted to be accepted into the College of Nursing. After graduation, she returned home and worked as a nurse’s aide at the Southern Ohio Medical Center while she awaited her NCLEX results. “I’ll always remember standing at the nurse’s station on the phone while my mom read the letter letting me know I passed my boards,” she said. 

The next important phone call came from a promoter of the Miss Portsmouth competition. 

“I said, ‘Oh, I’m not a pageant girl! I’m an athlete,’ ” but the scholarship money was too attractive not to try. She won Miss Portsmouth and then traveled to Mansfield to compete for Miss Ohio, which she also won. 

“I was so afraid I would get in trouble at work!” she said, laughing. Instead, her nurse manager gave her a leave of absence so she could compete in the Miss America Pageant, as well as speak to youth groups all over Ohio. One group in Cleveland was particularly memorable. The volunteer youth leader, Scott Spinner, was about her own age. “I could see how kind he was and thought, ‘I want to get to know him better.’ ”

When she used her scholarship money to attend graduate school at Ohio State to become a nurse practitioner, he found a job in Columbus. They were married about a year later. 

Spinner’s first job as a nurse practitioner was at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Mansfield, where she learned more about women’s health needs in underserved communities. The clinic provided Pap smears, mammograms and other critical healthcare to women in the rural Richland County area. From there, she worked with obstetrician/gynecologist Frank Isabelle, MD, (another Ohio State alum) in Worthington. He understood her plan to open her own practice and encouraged her to learn more about the coding, billing and management aspects of owning a practice.

She and her new husband both dreamed of a home with land in the country, and they often spent weekends driving and camping around Ohio. They found the perfect spot in Champaign County: more than 70 acres with a pond and lots of space for wilderness trails and gardens. She longed to work closer to home, and to serve more people within her community.

After moving to Mechanicsburg, Elle rented office space, purchased used furniture and asked friends and family to help paint and do repairs. Then she hung a sign, “Gentle Care Health Center,” and let people know she was there to help. 

“I laugh when I picture this,” Scott Spinner said. “She literally answered the phones, booked appointments, cleaned rooms, completed the exams, stayed on top of HRT principles, built relationships with pharmacies, completed billing, prepared the taxes and cleaned the office.” 

Over 13 years, she served more than 3,000 patients and hired support staff. She and Scott raised two sons, Caleb and Joshua, who now attend Ohio State. Two years ago, Spinner sold her practice to Madison Health – Ohio State Health Network and is now employed by Ohio State University Physicians, Inc., so that she can focus her time on patient care while others run the business. 

“I love nursing,” she said. “I want to keep doing this. I’m a problem solver and a patient advocate.”

She’s living her dream: a home with wilderness space for reflecting and recharging, and a career supporting and serving women who need holistic healthcare.