For Codi Jones and Kendra Seagraves, pursuing their passion took a leap of faith…

Codi Jones, MSN, APRN, ANP-BC, and Kendra Seagraves, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, spent years in the healthcare field caring for patients and honing their craft. Each worked in primary care and, over time, each developed deep relationships with both their patients and the practitioners with whom they worked. It was a career they loved, had studied for, and at which they had become very proficient. But as time went by and the days of small private medical practices slipped away, primary care began to be more about numbers than about spending quality time with patients.

“It happened gradually at first,” says Kendra, “but once the larger hospitals and their parent organizations began administering what we knew as primary care, things started to change.”

Codi adds, “We loved our patients and we loved the people we worked with. But we didn’t love not being able to provide them with the kind of care we wanted to.”

Taking care of patients, knowing their families, backgrounds, and even their personalities was one of the most rewarding things both of them had ever done, and they described it as not just a commitment, but a calling. It was who they were and what they were meant to do. “The visit times with patients got shorter, the documentation required to ensure reimbursement got longer, and the ability to offer thorough and individualized care became more difficult,” Kendra says. “When I’d get home at night, I was torn between spending time with my family or typing patient notes into my computer. The entire model was just plain wrong and it led to burnout, stress, and frustration.”

Eventually, the two made a profoundly difficult decision: they would find other lines of work. Codi transitioned into aesthetics where she helped her patients deal with the signs and symptoms of aging; while Kendra focused on being a stay at home mom. But neither found the satisfaction they had felt when they were providing direct care to patients. And as their dissatisfaction grew, they both began to feel as though they were no longer doing what they believed they had been called to do. A calling that, for both of them, came from God.

“There really is no other way to explain it,” Codi says, as Kendra nods enthusiastically. “We both believe that our love for and deep desire to provide health care—and specifically primary care—is a reflection of the gifts God has given us. And each of us knew in our hearts that we were no longer going in that direction.”

“Exactly,” says Kendra. “I have always believed that God has a purpose for me, and when you realize you’re not living up to that purpose—or even pursuing it—nothing feels right. I knew I belonged in healthcare, and I knew my calling was to provide primary care in a manner that would make others’ lives better. But I also knew I couldn’t put myself in a position that robbed my family of the time we needed to spend together, especially after normal work hours. I just didn’t know what I could do about it.”

Over the ensuing months, the two would run into each other from time to time, sometimes at the ball field with their families (and another time at Fish Tales, which drew a laugh from both of them), where they would share their sense of loss with one another. Then one day Kendra’s phone rang. It was Codi on the other end of the line. “Let’s do it” was all she said.

“It” had been talked about in the past when they first began to feel the pressures on traditional primary care. “It” would involve starting their own practice and creating a delivery model that would allow them to give each patient the time, attention, and level of care they needed. And “it’ had been lurking in the back of their minds for nearly half a decade. They met for coffee on a cool January morning in 2024 to discuss “it,” and by the end of their conversation, Kendra and Codi said the words that both frightened and exhilarated them. “Let’s do it.” And thus Balance Primary Care was born.

Balance Primary Care is based on a “DPC” model. Direct Primary Care. It’s not under the auspices of any hospital or parent organization. It is not associated with insurance, although they will coordinate insurance billing for any services that are not covered under their broad umbrella. For patients, that means the insurance company never has to be consulted, nor give its permission, for any of the services Balance Primary Care offers. It’s all covered by a monthly fee paid by the patient.  And in return for that monthly fee, patients receive a wide array of services, including same day appointments when needed; in-or-out-of office consultations that last as long as they need to last; lab work and imaging services; telemedicine if needed or requested; after care, should a patient have questions or concerns (even on the weekends); and maybe best of all, recommendations for lifestyle changes designed to promote and maintain better health.

“It’s a lot,” they both noted, “but every patient who walks in our door soon discovers primary care the way it was designed to be. We don’t just treat symptoms with prescriptions, we talk about what’s going on in a patient’s life. What are they eating? Do they exercise? Are they getting enough rest? How are things at work? What’s their stress level? We don’t want to treat symptoms, we want to treat the whole person. That’s what direct primary care is all about and that’s the work we feel called to do.”

A leap of faith.

For both Codi and Kendra, launching Balance Primary Care was a huge leap of faith. Literally. It was their faith in what they feel called to provide that gave them the courage to strike out on their own. “When you feel called to do something,” Codi says, “you don’t wait for guarantees that everything will work out just fine. You write up a business plan, you do your due diligence, and you consult with medical, legal, and other professionals. But in the end, you step out in faith, believing that if you build it, they will come.”

“We started planning for Balance Primary Care in January of 2024,” Kendra says, “and we opened our doors on August 19th. We’d done some marketing and outreach, but on the day we opened we had just three patients. Three. But I think we were so happy to be back doing what we loved that even having just three appointments felt like a win.” Prior to that opening day, Codi adds, “there were moments of worry and doubt—can we really do this? But I remember one time after sharing one of those doubts, Kendra turned to me and said, ‘You know what? God has us and I have you!’ That meant so much to me. God doesn’t give you something you can’t handle, because on the days you struggle, He helps carry the load. We truly believe that. We’re not without fear sometimes, but we’re never in doubt that this is what we were meant to do.”

And what about the name—Balance.

“We call it Balance Primary Care,” they said, “because true healthy living—for us and for our patients—is all about finding the right balance of work, family, and personal health, as well as finding the time to discover and pursue the gifts God has given you. Everyone is looking for balance, hoping to land in just the right spot. When it comes to delivering compassionate healthcare, our mission is to create that landing spot.”