Ashley Pavelka-Smidt, APRN, is a member of the Mary Lanning Healthcare Palliative Care team as a family nurse practitioner. She assists those who qualify for, and are open to, palliative care. This involves patients of any age from children to the elderly.
A Glenvil native, Pavelka-Smidt graduated from Sandy Creek High School in 2011. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree (BSN) with high distinction from Creighton University School of Nursing - Hastings campus in 2016. She continued her education through Creighton, earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in 2022. Her specialty is Family Medicine.
Pavelka-Smidt worked in a variety of healthcare settings before 2021, when she started working as a hospice and palliative care nurse for Mary Lanning Healthcare. Pavelka-Smidt said she has a unique perspective because of her mother’s hospice journey.
“My mom was on hospice with Mary Lanning...from that experience, I felt that ‘I need to be doing this.’”
Pavelka-Smidt said she is glad to work in palliative care because there were many ways palliative care would have helped her family.
“There are some misconceptions when people look at palliative care,” Pavelka-Smidt said. “Some people mistakenly believe that palliative care is only for the patients who are incurably ill. But the goal of palliative care is to provide relief of symptoms and the stress from a serious illness. Whatever the diagnosis is, we help patients at any age to live longer and more satisfying lives.”
Pavelka-Smidt and her husband, Ely, live in Fairfield. They met at Sandy Creek High School and have been married since 2017. They have a daughter, Willa, and a son, Hayes.
Pavelka-Smidt enjoys the outdoors, running and spending time with family and friends.