“Over the last 28 years, I have mostly worked in rural primary care settings in Maine and Hawaii. I never would have thought that my rural health care experience would be a perfect training ground for managing post-infectious fatigue syndromes. Rural medicine taught me to have strong assessment and management skills in all areas, as specialty practices were few and far between – sometimes on other islands. I learned how to approach complex illnesses methodically and patiently, listening to patients and really partnering with them to understand their concerns. ME/CFS, FM, and Long COVID can be highly complex illnesses that require a broad approach and a close working relationship with the patient, skills that I honed practicing rural medicine.

There is no one specialty that encompasses these illnesses, making primary care and internal medicine the best providers for these patients; but this can’t happen if generalists aren’t educated on these illnesses. One of BHC’s primary missions is to teach primary care and internal medicine providers about post-infectious fatigue syndromes.

These patients ARE in your practices, rural and urban, and need to be heard and cared for.”

Jennifer has been practicing as a Family Nurse Practitioner since 1994 and has extensive experience in primary care, women’s health, and HIV/AIDS. She specializes in diagnosis, treatment and research related to Long COVID, ME/CFS, FM, and related comorbidities.

In addition to providing clinical care, Jennifer has been a sub-investigator for six research studies at BHC involving ME/CFS, FM, and Long COVID.

In the 1990s, she was integral in the development of the Center for Clinical Studies at the University of Utah and was a sub investigator on numerous studies for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, and Herpes.

Jennifer Bell is actively engaged in the following:

• Precepting PA students and doctoral FNP students and providing direct clinical mentoring opportunities for visiting physicians and other providers
• Speaker at the National Nurse Practitioner Symposium, lecturing on the evaluation and management of post-viral fatigue syndromes and their co-morbidities
• Expert mentor and case study presenter for BHC’s Long COVID ECHO series with the University of Utah

Additionally, she:

• Helped to establish one of the first Long COVID care clinics in the United States at BHC
• Expands primary care provider knowledge of ME/CFS, FM, and Long COVID
• Finds deep satisfaction in working with patients who need a provider who is willing to listen and untangle the complexities of post-infectious fatigue syndromes