A love of children and a desire to make a difference in a community setting drew Elizabeth Baez to health care and specifically the pediatrics practice at the Gifford Health Center at Berlin.
Baez, a pediatric nurse practitioner, has joined experienced Barre-area pediatrician Dr. William Gaidys at the Gifford health center off Airport Road in Berlin.
A native of New York, Baez earned her bachelor’s in U.S. history from Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., and then went on to earn her registered nurse degree and then her master’s in nursing from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Boston.
Board certified by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, she previously worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner at United Community Health Centers in Three Points and Green Valley, Ariz., and Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven, Conn.
She’s also worked as a pediatric nurse Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut and at Massachusetts General Hospital Charlestown HealthCare Center. Prior to beginning her nursing career, she worked as a researcher and archivist documenting the U.S. civil rights struggle.
She has joined the Gifford Health Center at Berlin to practice medicine in a rural community.
“I like small towns, and I enjoy rural health care because I like getting to know children and their families,” says Baez, who hopes to become an integral part of her new central Vermont community.
Baez’s clinical interests include caring for infants and adolescents. She also stresses open communication in her practice.
“I always tell parents and guardians I like to hear from them rather than not hear from them. Please ask anything,” she says.
Baez also has advanced education in identifying pediatric cardiac rhythms and arrhythmias, and in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
In her spare time, Baez is a baseball enthusiast and a dog lover. She’s also speaks Spanish fluently.
She is now accepting new patients. Call her at the Gifford Health Center at Berlin at (802) 229-2325.