Bio
My family moved from El Paso, Texas to Redondo Beach when I was about 10 years old. I then moved to beautiful Sonoma County 2 years after completing my Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from USF in 1978.
My nursing career has extended from inpatient nursing on a medical floor at UCLA, to a float nurse at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, to a case manager as a home care nurse and then to an private outpatient oncology practice.
It was while working at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital that I was introduced to the needs and concerns of people with cancer. Since that exposure, caring for people with cancer has become one of my greatest pleasures in nursing and I have made it a focus for further education. In 1990 I became an Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialist after completing a Masters in Nursing from UCSF. It was at this time I was hired by Kaiser to assist in the opening of the new hospital in Santa Rosa.
This was such an exciting opportunity until 2 years later another exciting opportunity arose. I was hired away from Kaiser by a private radiation oncology practice to help expand their practice to include medical oncology. This practice is now known as Redwood Regional Oncology. It was while working within this practice that I saw a need for further education. I pursued a Family Nurse Practitioner certificate from Sonoma State in 1995 and worked as an Oncology Nurse Practitioner for over 10 years.
The chronic changes in health care lead me back to Kaiser 3 years ago as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and now as the Breast Care Coordinator. I am please to work with a health care model that promotes "Thriving" and is committed to disease prevention and health maintenance.
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