Yvonne Joy, DNP, FNP-C, APRN

Yvonne Joy is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with a doctorate degree in nursing. She has over 30 years of healthcare experience. She is also an advanced certified hospice and palliative nurse. She is a veteran of the United States Air Force. She is the third of four children for her parents Roland and Eileen. While growing up in Massachusetts, her dad joined the Air Force when she was 8 years old. They moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado for three years, then to Troy, New York for three years, followed by a move to Hudson, New Hampshire for five years where she graduated from high school. She enjoyed moving around the United States and seeing different parts of the country.

Yvonne began her career in nursing after completing her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Syracuse University, where she also participated in Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), culminating in her commissioning as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Her first duty assignment was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. She completed the Obstetric Nursing Internship and worked in labor and delivery and in the maternity ward. Her second duty assignment was at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where she worked in the maternity ward and in the primary care clinic. During this time, she earned a Master of Business Administration from Webster University. She separated from active duty after six years of service and remained in the Reserves for another eight years.

Upon separation from the Air Force, she and her husband Michael moved from Oklahoma to the St Louis, Missouri area. Over the next 24 months, they welcomed three children into their family, twin boys and one girl. While living in the Saint Louis area for three years, Yvonne worked clinically at a tertiary care center in the high-risk labor and delivery and maternity units. She also started teaching as adjunct faculty for Saint Louis University. She completed her Master of Science in Nursing from Saint Louis University and began working as a nurse practitioner, providing primary care for residents living in long-term care. She also taught as adjunct faculty for several universities in Connecticut until taking a full-time position at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut.