Susannah Smith Kirby 1990
I have been employed at CPMC in SF for almost 25 years on the medical/surgical unit. I am ONC certified. My father is co-founder of Operation Rainbow which travels mostly to 3rd world countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, etc. to perform orthopedic services for free and I have gone on the Ecuador trip to assist in the post-op recovery. My 16 year old daughter hopes to follow my foot-steps into the nursing field.
Linda G. Givens 1991
I worked for a year at the University of California on a telemetry before returning to Michigan where I worked at Grace Hospital, part of the DMC in the Surgical ICU for 10 years. Then after a shoulder injury that sidelined my career, I went to work at Blue Cross Blue Shield of MI as a utilization management nurse for the GM contract. I was promoted to case manager in 1989 and worked specifically for the GM contracts handling PPO cases around the US. In 2000 I became a certified case manager. At this time I am also assisting with the NCQA accreditation process to develop procedures documenting how we do our work. In 2001 I took a contingent position with Oakwood hospital as an emergency room case manager, I did this for 13 years.
Cynthia Jensen 1992
I will say that my education at COM in terms of preparing me to be a nurse was far superior to my BSN and MSN programs! And I will be forever indebted to my instructors for helping me graduate even after I had the hair brained idea to get pregnant my second year and deliver on graduation day. I had to go on bed rest for pre-eclampsia at the very end of school and risked not graduating. Carol Zeller came to MGH for 2 weeks after graduation so I could do my clinical preceptorship and finish. The dedication of the staff to the students is astounding. Because I graduated on time, and had finished my preceptorship I was hired into a NICU new grad training program at UCSF during a time when there were very few jobs. I have been at UCSF since October 12th, 1992 and have had a wonderful career in an environment where I learn something new every day.
Vernon Childs 1993
I am currently working as the Admissions Liaison for Outpatient Mental Health Programs at St. Helena CBH in Vallejo. Since graduating I have worked in Physical rehab, Psychiatry, General Med surg, and Research.
Lilly Alikhanova 1994
After my associate degree, I finished my master's degree in critical care. Since 1999, I have continued to work in critical care. Now I am working in the Marin General Critical Care Department.
Johanna Hunter 1994
I continued my education receiving a Bachelor of Science degree at Sonoma State University. As soon as I had finished, I accepted a nursing position at UCSF where I went through the AORN Periop 101 course and started my operating room career which was one of my long- term goals. Must skip back... In 1996 I joined the U.S. Army Nursing Corp as a reservist. I then moved to the Sacramento Valley prior to leaving the reserves and have been working in the OR at UC Davis Med Center. I travel with Hand Of Hope as frequently as I can and have participated in medical and surgical missions in Cambodia, Mexico, India and Ethiopia. Planning a trip early next year for a mission in Haiti and will be looking forward to seeing some classmates from COM.
Badiha Seraphim Haney 1994
When I graduated from the nursing school I could not find a job in hospitals. Nurses were being laid off. After one year, nursing jobs started easing and my last job was at the VAMC SF. I was privileged to work with the veterans where I had the best experience of my life. I worked 19 years at the VA of which 3 years per diem and on call. I just retired last year with lots of nice souvenirs. If it was not for my age I would have continued working as an RN. While I was at the VA I worked on my Bachelor’s degree in nursing. I graduated 2004 from Dominican University. I will continue to leave my license active because I liked what I have accomplished. Now that I am recently retired, I started doing some traveling. I feel that my nursing have helped me a lot to take better care of myself and of the people around me.
Suzanne Hart 1994
Have worked as a staff nurse since Graduation Med surg, tele, high risk antepartum, ED, PACU. Mostly all with Kaiser Permanente. One year in management didn't like it. Still working PACU Will be retiring in 2017.
Helen Brackley 1996
After graduation, I worked as a hospital nurse then moved into home care nursing in Marin County. After five years I started working as a staff nurse at Guide Dogs for the Blind and became the nurse manager soon after. GDB is a school that trains working dogs for the visually impaired community. Many of our clients are blind secondary to diabetes, strokes, and trauma and eye diseases. Nurses provide care, support, teaching and advocacy. And one must love dogs! Truly my most enjoyable RN job, I looked forward to my work every day and loved the relationships I developed with students and staff. They enhanced my life in so many ways. I'm now mostly retired but occasionally work at GDB on an as needed basis. Perks include puppy cuddling!
Terri Elliott 1996
I began my career at Highland Hospital in the New Graduate ICU program. Spent several years in the ICU then transferred to outpatient OB/GYN for a few years and finally moved to the ER. I left Highland and have been working in the ER at Alameda Hospital for 8 years.
Julie Henderson-Park 1997
I started as a registered nurse at The Rafael, a convalescent home/rehab in Marin county for 4 years. Applied for position staff nurse 2 at Kaiser in San Rafael where I work in med/surg. Started on days and p.m.’s, had 2 children and for flexibility and to be home with my kids during the day I went to night shift. I am still at Kaiser!!
Charlene Frischer (Charlene Lundgren) 1998
I started nursing school when my children were little 20 years ago and it took me 6 years to complete from the beginning of my pre-requisites in math and science classes to my final COM nursing class. After graduating from COM, I went to work at Kaiser San Francisco in the step down critical care TCU department. From there I moved to Kaiser Terra Linda - where I worked for 16 years in a variety of areas: Oncology, Step down, Cardiology and Stroke unit. I also worked general med surg and in the ICU doing cardiac pulmonary and GI Procedures, and putting in PICC lines. While there I also worked in the clinic as a Congestive Heart Failure Case Manager. Most recently I decided to leave Kaiser and go into Hospice Nursing. I have found my true love, and niche, and truly enjoy the spiritual aspect of supporting people and their loved ones as they face the ultimate journey. In 2011 I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from California State University Fullerton graduating Magna cum Laude. I got a great education at College of Marin - and I am grateful every day that I became a nurse.
Catherine Bautista 1999
Marin Community College Nursing Program provided me with the best foundation in nursing. Since graduating from the program in 1999, I have had a diverse and rewarding career. I have worked in the ER, most notably the trauma center at Highland in Oakland. I have pursued my advanced degree in nursing. I now have my MSN and my MBA. During my clinicals for my MSN, at Stanford, my triad provided the research and helped develop criteria for prn EKG in the acute setting. I have been faculty for a LVN program. I am now working as a Resource Nurse for Hospice by the Bay, formerly known as Hospice of Marin. I am starting the DNP program at University of San Francisco this fall. Hopefully, at the end of the program, I will be a DNP of psychiatric and mental health issues.
Lynne Behr 1999
I went to Highland Hospital ICU in Oakland as a new grad. I stayed there 5.5 years and then went to Kaiser San Rafael as Assistant Nurse Manager of Critical Care. After 3.5 years I took the Trauma Program Director job. Now I am also the Surgery Clinic Manager. I am a TNCC Course Director and I am active at the County of Marin. I am a member of the Steering Committee for the Annual Survivors Celebration as well as a s Site Coordinator for Sidewalk CPR each year. I also mentor teens in the Algebra Academy each year with North Bay Leadership Academy via Kaiser Permanente. One of the best decisions I ever made was to enroll in the College of Marin Nursing Program! My daughter Tam is also an RN and COM Alumni!
Theresa Diaz 1999
After graduating I was accepted into a new grad program at UCSF in the Oncology/BMT unit, and the rest is history. I have been an oncology nurse for the past 15 years (while I was in nursing program my mother was struggling with cancer Dx) at the capacity of an inpatient staff nurse, I left inpatient nursing and worked as a chemotherapy Infusion nurse for a while, and most recent a Nurse Case manager at the Moores Cancer Center, in LA Jolla Ca.
Ann Burrroni Goheen 1999
I started in a big hospital in the San Francisco area, training first on a cardiac floor, then an Ortho floor, then was staff for a cardiac/overflow floor. Eventually I went to Napa, a telemetry/stepdown floor where I ended up as a lead nurse on days. After 8 years I went to the Medical Guarded Unit, a locked unit for convicted felons from the California state prison system. I was there until the hospital closed the unit, and briefly went back to the telemetry floor before a second work related spine injury necessitated my looking for something different. My spine-saving newest job is as an advice nurse at Kaiser. And so far, it's going great!
Kiok Grutter 1999
After graduation I started work at Richmond Kaiser Emergency Room for 9 years then transfer to Kaiser San Rafael Emergency Room for almost 7 years.
Melanie Northcutt (Melanie Breslow) 1999
After graduating from COM I worked as a charge nurse in a SNF. After one year of work/taking classes at UCSF I was accepted into the MEPN program at UCSF. I started the NP program in Gerontology. I also worked at Kaiser San Rafael on the medical surgical floor. I did not complete the program as my husband and I started our family. I have worked off and on at the Rafael Convalescent as a charge nurse and MDS coordinator. College of Marin was an amazing experience and helped me to do something I loved. I am in the process of returning to nursing after almost 8 year absence to raise our children. I will start a refresher program at Ohlone College this summer and will update COM once I return to nursing.
Judith Rooke 1999
Upon graduation, I started working at Endoscopy Center Of Marin (1999-2003) until I had my second child. From 2003 to 2013, I stayed home to raise my children. In 2013, I started working part time for a Durable Medical Equipment company which opened a lot of doors for me into the healthcare industry. I saw a job opening for a Clinical Liaison for Kindred Healthcare at the end of 2013 and applied. The job sounded interesting to me as it would give me the opportunity to work with patients and their families as well as case managers at various hospitals. I started the job in January of 2014 and am on my 2nd year with the company and loving it.