About Patricia Terry

Patricia J. Terry was born in Tacoma, WA and spent her first few years of life on a dairy farm near Sunnyside, WA. Her family moved to Pendleton in eastern Oregon when she was 4 years old. Patricia later spent her high school years in North Bend, OR. Patricia worked her way through nursing school at the University of Oregon School of Nursing in Portland, OR where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977. An interest in the public policy side of healthcare led Patricia to earn a Master of Public Administration degree from Seattle University in 2005. Patricia and her husband, Michael Cooney live on Camano Island in Washington State.

Patricia Terry has devoted over 30 years to a distinguished healthcare career as a Registered Nurse

Patricia Terry's career as a Registered Nurse includes:

• Critical Care Nursing
  
• Health Facility Evaluator for the County of Los Angeles
  
• Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality
  
• Multi-Site Management Roles
  
• Regional manager (West/Far East) quality oversight contract with Dept. of Defense
  
• Manager of state contracts, quality oversight, residential treatment for children and adolescents
  

Patricia Terry has a lifelong history of civic engagement

• Board of Health was appointed Patricia Terry to a three-year term with the Community Health Advisory Board;
• Trained as a first-responder in the Stanwood-Camano Fire Department's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program;
• An active member of the Island, Snohomish, and Skagit County Democrats, Patricia has volunteered to do everything from health policy analysis to stuffing envelopes and doorbelling;
• Patricia was an activist through her church's Peace Covenant Committee during the nuclear proliferation of the 1980's
• Volunteered for US Congressman Les Aucoin, Oregon (D) late 1970's;
• The "Vote 19" campaign of the late 1960's gave young activists such as Patricia Terry an early start at grassroots politics. "19" was the average age of soldiers in Viet Nam, who were considered old enough to be sent to war, but not old enough to vote. Imagine the glee of the movement when in 1971, the 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18, an additional year younger than the campaign's objective!