POULSBO — The difference between a traditional doctor’s office experience and a visit to Heritage Health Center is as simple as an anatomy coloring book.

The well-worn tome is something that nurse practitioner Betty Bennett uses a lot in her interaction with patients. She likes to make copies from it to give folks a good understanding of their body and an active role in their wellness plans — whether it be recovering from illnesses or simply avoiding them.

“We do a lot more focus on keeping people well but also when someone has an illness, we address how it impacts their lives,” she said. “Education is a big part of what we do.”

After 10 years as a family nurse practitioner in the Poulsbo and Bremerton areas, Bennett opened Heritage Health Center at the North Kitsap Medical Center off Bond Road this month. The practice offers primary family medical care focusing on wellness and some disease management.

There are about 88,000 nurse practitioners in the United States who provide the same kinds of care as doctors and physician assistants. Bennett explained that their philosophy is what sets her field apart. Nurse practitioners focus on wellness plans, educating people about lifestyles and body systems and having the patient be a participant in treatment choices.

For instance, Bennett said she recently received a call from a patient who had been diagnosed with eczema but not told anything about the condition. Bennett was able to alleviate the person’s fears and teach the client not only about the condition but about things that might be able to help it.

“He was told it was ‘just eczema’ but he was itching really badly and wanted to know what to do,” Bennett said. “I was able to educate him about it and hopefully help him.”

But, Bennett cautioned, there are things that nurse practitioners do not do and said that she will refer patients to a physician in some cases.

“I don’t have the knowledge base to treat very serious conditions,” Bennett explained. “There are things that only a physician should see you for. I don’t do what I don’t know and I’m not afraid to tell someone I don’t know something.”

“But we really do a very excellent job of wellness and helping people to stay healthy,” she added. “We’re very proactive in our approach and we encourage our patients to be active in their health care choices.”

Bennett has lived in Poulsbo for 23 years and has been in nursing for about 35 years. In addition, she’s been a health educator in the North Kitsap community for the last 18 years, teaching classes like stress and weight management and vegetarian nutrition through the Poulsbo Seventh-day Adventist Church. She is also a member of the Harrison Hospital Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) team. Bennett said all of her experiences in health care are motivated by a similar goal.

“The real desire or dream is to join people in a troubled time and find a way to make it better,” she explained of her career choice. “It’s sort of the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.”

Besides general check-ups, tests and illnesses, Bennett is interested in helping with women’s care, especially menopause management, and teaching pain management to people in chronic pain. But she said the thing that really drew her to her own practice was the chance to spend more time with her patients. Sessions are like typical doctor visits but much more thorough, which Bennett believes ultimately empowers her patients to be active participants in their own health care.

“I want to move at a slower pace,” she commented. “My preference is to offer family health care but in a relaxed setting where people feel they can talk about their health care issues, not just the issue that’s in front of us.”