Rebecca’s Nurse Spotlight

Rebecca Richards didn’t enter community-based care nursing with a long-term plan. 

At the time, she was working part-time in a gastrointestinal clinic doing infusions and was looking for more hours. 

“I received a phone call about an RN position in a dual assisted living and memory care community. I was told ‘it’s a super easy job,’” she remembers. “My infusion job was only part time, and the assisted living/memory care role was full time which aligned more with what I was looking for.” 

But, once she stepped into the role, she found herself navigating far more than just an increase in hours. “I was absolutely clueless, and it quickly became super stressful trying to learn an entirely different aspect of nursing while also closing in on geriatric status myself,” she laughs. 

Rebecca has been nursing for decades. She began her career as a CNA for about eight years before graduating from an associate nursing program in 1999. She went on to work in the hospital doing telemetry step down, then spent 15 years in emergency departments, and she even completed stints in COVID testing, biologic infusions, eventually landing in community-based care. 

Today, she is the RN for an assisted living and memory care community in McMinnville. Despite how overwhelming it was to begin, Rebecca decided to stay. 

When asked what keeps her in the field, she chuckled saying, “Some of my colleagues and all of the residents!…I still find it challenging and I am still learning.” 

That mix of challenge and fulfillment has kept her grounded in the field of community-based care nursing.

She explains that one of the biggest challenges of her role is, “finding ways to keep the residents safe while assisting them maintain independence and remaining within the State regulations.” 

Collaboration, she says, has been essential in overcoming those challenges. “Collaborating with other nurses and the facility administrator, she has been super helpful for me.” 

Still, she notes that some challenges could be better addressed with stronger systems in place. 

“That’s why a program like NurseLearn, that spells out state regulations and best practices in their modules and provides nurses with an experienced mentor who can answer questions, is so valuable.,” she says. Rebecca is enrolled in NurseLearn’s six-month mentored Enhanced Program, which guides community-based care nurses through specialized online modules with the support of one-on-one mentorship from an experienced community-based care nurse. 

When asked about her hopes for the future of community-based care, she replies, “I hope that future CBC nurses will take advantage of this program.”

Looking ahead, Rebecca hopes that the field continues to evolve to support nurses who choose this path. 

It’s clear that Rebecca’s interest in healthcare stems from a genuine desire to care and advocate for others. That passion has also made her a believer in the value of mentorship. For those new to community-based care nursing, her advice is simple: “Get a mentor or another nurse that can support and assist you with navigating this field of nursing.” 

Rebecca herself has found mentorship and community in the NurseLearn Enhanced Program. 

“The NurseLearn Program has helped to tie it all together and to really understand what my role is and what the expectations of my position are. I have a clearer understanding of what the State is looking for and expecting.” 

She explains that before the program, “I started out not knowing or understanding what was expected of the RN in this setting. NurseLearn has tied it all together and provided references and guidelines for me to use to better understand how to provide care in this setting while following the state regulations. The program has helped me as a supervisor to communicate what the expectations and regulations are.” 

Her mentor has played a key role in that learning process as well. 

“My mentor GETS ME!” Rebecca shares. “We have laughed about the previous shenanigans I was in when starting out. Her sense of humor is amazing and she has helped me to put it all into perspective and realize that at the end of the day we all are doing our best to navigate the trials and tribulations of CBC Nursing.”

For Rebecca, it was worth it to commit to community-based care nursing despite the initial challenges. She found guidance and support in the NurseLearn program which made her role feasible and understandable, and that has made all the difference.