A new clinic has opened its doors, bringing expanded healthcare services to Globe-Miami and the surrounding communities. Copper Roots Family Care, located on US 60 just minutes from Downtown Globe, offers a variety of medical services to our area.
Family nurse practitioners Susan Robertson and Ashley Bravo have a wide range of experience in the medical field and are teaming up to serve the Copper Corridor in a way they hope will best meet its needs.
“We have a lot of things in common with how we want healthcare to be managed,” Robertson says.
Copper Roots welcomes patients of all ages with all insurances. They also have a sliding-scale fee for the uninsured and offer some cash-pay services. In addition to shockwave pain therapy, they offer wellness visits, preventative care, chronic condition management, lifestyle and nutrition counseling, and peptide and hormone therapy.
One of their primary goals is for patients to “feel heard.” They hope to make medical care more efficient—from simple blood draws and labs to strep tests. They say they are working hard not to make it a tedious process because they realize their patients have busy schedules as well.
Robertson says they try to find ways to serve patients rather than be a “referral mill.” She adds that they schedule their patients for the time they need, “We don’t want to feel like it’s a race against the clock.”
Robertson and Bravo saw a local need for pain management services, which they say hasn’t been offered locally since Sun Life Health closed its Globe office. In addition to joint injections and trigger-point injections, they offer shockwave pain therapy. Their shockwave machine works like an ultrasound machine and has an analgesic effect to treat conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome in a non-invasive way.
Robertson says there are benefits to the autonomy of operating a private clinic like theirs.
“We can come in early and stay late,” she explains.
It’s the “various things we can do,” Bravo adds. “In the rural setting, we want to be good at a lot of things.”
The pair met in spring 2021 while Robertson was working as an FNP and Bravo was a student NP. They realized they both had the same career goals, so they teamed up and joined forces, says Bravo.
Their paths leading them to Globe are diverse. Robertson worked as a registered nurse for years before going back to school to become an FNP. She worked in pain management in Yuma and also in wound care. She also spent several years in Indonesia, providing relief work in areas afflicted by disaster. She said she came back to Arizona in 2013 and moved to Globe after her husband was hired by the local hospital.
Robertson initially worked at Palo Verde Family Care but aspired to have a private practice to allow greater freedom in patient care.
“I like the private sector,” she says. “We have the ability to not make our patients a business.” She says they strive to keep medicine at a personal level.
Bravo also worked as a registered nurse, but decided to go back to school during the COVID pandemic to become a FNP. During her time as an RN, she worked in the emergency room and in surgical care. Rural Arizona is important to her as she grew up in Kearny and says her parents have been local business owners for more than 30 years.
As they serve the Copper Corridor, Robertson says they want to build roots within the community, “Deep roots bring growth and strength, and create a strong foundation.”
Bravo’s favorite aspect of their endeavor is the life lesson, she says. “We did this pretty quickly,” she explains.
“We put this practice together in about eight weeks.”
They agree that opening the private practice has been a labor of love.
They not only painted the walls, installed new floors, and ordered equipment, but also strove to create a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere.
“It’s an experience,” Bravo says. “It’s a whole feeling when you come in.”
Robertson says she has enjoyed the support and excitement from their patients and the community.
Robertson and Bravo said they don’t expect to ever stop accepting new patients.
“We have the room to grow,” Robertson says.
They shared that they would also consider bringing in another nurse practitioner if the time is right.
Although their official grand opening took place on October 23, Copper Roots has been operating since August. They worked out of the Hamblin Dermatology building next to their current office until the first week of September.
During their open house and ribbon-cutting last week, they offered catering by Bravo Americano Moderno, free flu shots, raffles, and a fundraiser for flood victims. They partnered with Corner Health, which donated $15 to the United Fund of Globe-Miami for each person in attendance.
Robertson stated that they were luckier than some of their neighbors in the plaza and only had some water through the front door during the flooding. They wanted to use the fundraiser as a way to give back.
Copper Roots Family Care doesn’t want to be just about whole-person healthcare; they want to be the caring, compassionate, trusted listeners behind that care.
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