Pinehurst – After earning her associate degree in nursing, Skyler Winkler, N.P., accepted a nursing position with FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, working in the Hiatt, Cardiac Specialty and Outpatient Cath areas.

All were cardiac units.

“It was working on these floors that really cemented my passion for cardiology,” Winkler says.

Now a nurse practitioner, Winkler recently joined the FirstHealth Cardiology programs at 7 Regional Circle in Pinehurst and at Reid Heart Center on the campus of Moore Regional Hospital. Her responsibilities include seeing new patients as well as conducting follow-up appointments with established patients.

Winkler cites her special interest in cardiac patients as the reason she decided to work toward her nurse practitioner degree.

“I have always had a passion for caring for my patients,” she says, “but, as an R.N., I found myself with a desire to take a deeper role in their care, so I decided to return to N.P. school.”

Winkler received her associate degree in nursing from Sandhills Community College in 2010 and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2012.

She earned her Master of Science in Nursing: Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner degree from Duke University last year.

After joining Moore Regional’s nursing program, Winker assumed a variety of nurse leadership roles – assisting with unit credentialing, mentoring new graduate and experienced nurses, and working as a charge nurse in the Outpatient Cath Area.

In August 2014, she was named a FirstHealth DAISY Nurse, an award that recognizes nursing excellence.

A native of Moore County, Winkler is engaged to Tyler Rogers, who works in Moore Regional’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab.

To make an appointment with one of the providers at FirstHealth Cardiology-Pinehurst or FirstHealth Cardiology-Reid Heart Center, call the patient referral coordinator toll-free at (855) 695-7915.