Heather B.

During my childhood years, caring for my elderly grandparents was a part of my everyday life. They had several health issues and were in and out of hospitals frequently. I was exposed to caregivers in many different settings. The impact that kind, compassionate and informative care-giving made all the difference to me and my family. At the age of 12, I knew nursing was what I wanted to do with my life. As I pursued nursing, I started out caring for patients in a nursing home as a nursing assistant. I loved this, as I got to care for clients, just like my grandparents. The opportunity to establish connections with clients week-to-week was special! After nursing school, I moved to caring for patients in a hospital setting as a Registered Nurse. The hospital experiences have given me a broad scope of skills, whether it is assisting patients with basic self-care needs, changing dressings, managing ventilators or providing education, being able to establish a rapport with patients and their family's is still one of the favorite parts of my job. I love being able to help people understand what is going on with their health and their treatment plan. Just as others demonstrated to my own family, I want each of my clients and their family members to feel safe, cared for and heard.

I have always been people oriented and always try to help whenever I can. Helping older people who have done so much to make the world what it is now just feels like an honor to do. Getting to know and help someone who has been through it all is something I enjoy very much. As of now, my best personal achievement is being able to say that I'm living on my own with my boyfriend. It may not seem like much to some, but we have built what we have from nothing. We have 2 cats, and about 30 or 40 fish in our little apartment. Selling and raising fish has always been a dream of mine and we are there.