Chris Festa, PMD, APRN, DNP-BC joined the US Army as a combat medic right after college. After serving in the military, Chris worked in several emergency rooms and Level One trauma centers. In addition, Chris was the Chief Flight Officer for a company handling international medical evacuations, then served as Chief Medical Officer for a large defense contractor, and spent a year in a local general practice.

Although Stephen Heglund was an Army brat. He is a fifth generation resident of Indian River County. His family arrived in the early 1900s and has been here ever since. In 1994 Stephen earned Professional Certification for Critical-Care Nursing and worked in the Intensive Care Unit as a Critical Care Nurse. In 2001 he returned to school and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2002, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Nursing and Healthcare Education in 2003 and a Master of Science Degree for Licensing as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2004. In 2012, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree with research focuses on Clinical Innovations and the Stresses Associated with being a Registered Nurse.

While he continued providing Emergency Care for the Community of Sebastian as a Family Nurse Practitioner, he also became a full-time member of the Faculty at the University of Central Florida and remains in that position today.

Tommy comes to River’s Edge Urgent Care with a plethora of Emergency care experience. Tommy started his career in 1986 as an ER tech at Holmes Regional Medical Center. Tommy quickly identified his desire to grow in the field of Emergency medicine and became a paramedic for Indian River County from 1988-1998. In 1998 Tommy decided to further his education to become a Physician Assistant. From 1998-2000 Tommy attended Nova University Physicians Assistant school. From 2000-2015 Tommy was a Physicians Assistant at Indian River Medical Center, from 2015-2021 Tommy was a Physicians Assistant at SRMC. Tommy is excited to join River’s Edge Urgent Care and support the community in which he lives.

Sukha is our newest employee. He is in training for being our new patient greeter and therapy dog. Next time you are here, make sure to say hi to Sukha! 

2Bits was always one of our hardest workers. She helped with greeting patients and she is also our number one therapy dog. It's not easy to find a worker of this caliber and we were happy to have 2Bits on-board as a trusted friend.