“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
The quote from the late Winston S. Churchill, renown British Prime Minister through most of the Second World War, continues to be a source of inspiration for Gilbert Fontenette, pulmonology nurse practitioner with Lourdes Physician Group. It, too, he says, is a fitting description of Black History Month.
“Through struggle, determination and perseverance we have overcome” Gilbert says. “Black History Month allows us to reminiscence on our past while celebrating our achievements and progress through history.”
Gilbert joined the Our Lady of Lourdes family in 1998 as a registered nurse, but his passion for learning and helping others began many years ago. As a teen, Gilbert was intrigued with healthcare, a field in which he could satiate his hunger for knowledge and service. It was around this time that his mother became ill.
“It was in caring for her that the desire to purse nursing increased,” he says. “The call to advance my nursing skills and knowledge grew after several years in bedside nursing, so I obtained my adult nurse practitioner degree and later a doctorate in nursing. The desire to care for individuals in their time of need and obtain the highest level of education has been the stimulus in my nursing career as well as my educational journey.”
As a nurse practitioner treating adults, Gilbert is able to put that knowledge, skill and passion to the test daily through the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with pulmonary illness and sleep apnea.
“My motivation is the ability to assist the individual in their time of need,” he says.
