Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Meet Nurse Jenn, a trailblazer in the Las Vegas medical marijuana industry

Essence Cannabis Dispensary Nurse

L.E. Baskow

Registered nurse Jennifer Shepherd introduces Anna Cohen to new products Friday, April 22, 2016, at Essence Cannabis Dispensary. Shepherd helps customers find effective strains for pain relief.

As a registered nurse working in trauma and rehabilitation centers in Kansas, Jennifer Shepherd cared for patients who weren't benefiting from the pain medications prescribed to them.

She noticed a pattern that prompted her to detour from her 13-year career in the traditional medical field. No matter what type of pain or medical problem the patients were experiencing, they tended to be prescribed the same opiates or steroid pain relievers. Yet some didn’t want to take their medication due to side effects associated with them, and others weren’t getting enough pain relief, she said.

“I couldn’t figure out why I had 20 patients with the same pills,” she said. “At that point, I started noticing that Western medicine wasn’t helping as many patients as I thought it should.”

Essence Cannabis Dispensary Nurse

Registered nurse Jennifer Shepherd introduces Anna Cohen to new products Friday, April 22, 2016, at Essence Cannabis Dispensary. Shepherd helps customers find effective strains for pain relief. Launch slideshow »

Today, Shepherd is helping people relieve pain and deal with a range of other ailments through an alternative to widely prescribed pharmaceuticals. She is the first on-site nurse in a Las Vegas medical marijuana business — Essence Cannabis Dispensary, which recently opened three locations in the valley.

Store customers and browsers who are curious about which cannabis strands and products are best for them can schedule a free 30-minute appointment with “Nurse Jenn,” dispensary owner Armen Yemenidjian said.

“Some (patients) are confused. They’ve never tried marijuana before and need a little help to find their essence,” he said, meaning the exact product to suit the patient’s needs.

After a cordial introduction during her appointments, Shepherd questions patients about their health issues. Although the 32-year-old no longer works in a traditional medical facility, she carried over her appearance and demeanor from those days, wearing blue scrubs and taking a mannerly, professional approach to her interactions with patients.

People are honest about the pain they’re suffering and why they want to consume cannabis, she says. “We don’t have people coming in here wanting to get high. We have people coming here wanting pain relief,” she said.

Cannabis is a natural alternative to pain-relieving opiates and steroids, and it’s prescribed to help deal with a broad range of illnesses and medical conditions, including multiple sclerosis, arthritis, post-traumatic stress disorder and insomnia.

But marijuana is cultivated in many varieties and is packaged in several different forms. It affects different people in different ways, as well, so what is effective for one patient might not be for the next. That's why Essence has an array of options, which include topicals like lotions and lip balm, and edibles like butters and cookies. The dispensary also sells marijuana in smokeable form.

“That’s why Nurse Jenn is here,” Yemenidjian said — to help patients determine what product will be the most effective for them.

Shepherd’s recommendations to patients include keeping journals documenting their cannabis consumption and its effects. From there, she said, she and the patients can determine what products and doses are most effective for them.

Before moving to Las Vegas late last year, her path took her from Wichita, Kan., to Colorado, where medical marijuana also is legal and where she spent her summer studying cannabis and dispensaries. She said that compared to what she had learned through her own research, staff at those dispensaries were giving inaccurate information on marijuana and its effects.

“That’s where I kind of figured out where I fit in in this business,” she said.

Shepherd and Yemenidjian said Essence’s customers were pleased with the availability of a nurse, and some had reported they had reduced or eliminated their use of opioid painkillers.

Yemenidjian said he and Shepherd clicked right before his dispensaries opened when she attended a focus group he hosted. The subject was what his future customers liked, didn’t like, wanted and didn’t want. He said Shepherd intrigued him with her knowledge of cannabis, and he almost immediately realized he wanted to hire her.

In addition to consulting patients, Shepherd attends seminars, conducts research and participates in several local cannabis groups, she said.

While not at work, attending concerts, hiking, working out at a gym, or watching her favorite sports teams — the Kansas City Royals and Oklahoma City Thunder — Shepherd continues her cannabis studies at home, she said.

“We want people who actually have a patient focus and are passionate about helping the cannabis community here,” Yemenidjian said. “And that’s what has struck me about Nurse Jenn.”

Editor’s note: Brian Greenspun, the CEO, publisher and editor of the Las Vegas Sun, has an ownership interest in Essence Cannabis Dispensary.