This week’s Valpo Life in the Spotlight is all about health and wellness in Northwest Indiana. She’s a nurse practitioner, teacher, runner, and friend. Readers, I’d like to introduce you to Chrys Davis.
Davis was born and raised in Elkhart, IN and she moved to Valparaiso to attend the nursing school at Valparaiso University. During her time at VU she ran track and cross country. After graduation she worked at various doctor’s offices and hospitals before coming to St. Mary Medical Center.
As a nurse practitioner at Innovative Women’s Health through St. Mary Medical Center, Davis does her best to incorporate education.
“I enjoy working at St. Mary’s,” Davis said. “It’s a great place to work. My favorite part is the health promotion and health aspect of it. Empowering women as well as educating them and encouraging them to take better care of themselves is important to me.”
Davis also teaches nursing clinical and precepts nurse practitioner students at VU.
“I like it. It’s a way for me to give back to the school that has given so much to me,” Davis said. “And there’s so much value in remembering what it’s like to be a student and to be reminded what it’s like to be new at something. That really instills the value of what I do.”
Outside of work, Davis is an avid runner. She volunteers as a running instructor at Extra Mile Fitness where she helps with group runs, conducts lectures and helps with the various programs that are offered there. She has participated in multiple marathons (12 so far) and continues to run every day whether it’s with a group, with her boyfriend, or with her dog.
“I originally stayed in Valpo because of the friends that I made in college,” Davis said. “But I grew to love it here and over the last few years it seems to have flourished –especially in the downtown area- it’s a city that does promote fitness. There are a lot of races and they are creating new trails for people to run and bike on.”
In her free time, Davis loves be outside. She enjoys gardening, swimming, photography, biking and dabbling in various triathlons.
In the future, Davis would like to go back to school to pursue a doctoral degree. She’s already accomplished so much, and this makes her even more inspiring to all that know her.
Is there anything that she’d care to add to further the inspiration?
“As I feel with many things in life, it’s important to find that balance and that varies depending on what phase of life you are in. So make time for yourself and maintain physical activity,” Davis said. “And for me that’s running but for others that’s going to the gym, biking, whatever. Life is busy. So really just finding some way to take care yourself on a daily basis or at least many times a week and finding that balance in your life is important.”
You hear that, readers? Pure and simple advice. We do get too busy in our lives at times and we forget to take care of our own needs which results in that loss of balance. So let’s listen to these words and take them to heart just like we take Chrys Davis into our hearts. She is, after all, a Valpo Life in the Spotlight.
