Judith Bell

I worked as a Senior Outreach Nurse for Adult Services in Nevada County, which allowed me to work part time and continue working with geriatric patients. This is a unique program, not offered by many counties, aimed at working with seniors in their homes. Our goal was to support seniors in staying in their homes, safely. We worked with people who were transitioning into assisted living or SNF placements too. We did not provide direct nursing care,.

We assessed the living situation, physical and emotional needs, community programs that would be available to each individual. We built relationships with our clients, took them to medical appointments, or senior activities, worked with their families and caregivers around the specific needs of each client. A part of the work was to help clients navigate the more and more complex medical world. We followed up on meds and labs, provided falls prevention guidance, worked with physicians and NP's to provide care. We participated in county activities like flu immunization clinics. We did blood pressure clinics at local congregate living facilities.

This program made a difference in many people's lives. It was a time when I recognized how important it is for older people, especially those with medical and social problems, to have someone they can easily contact and get the support that they need. I retired in 2014, but have stayed involved with many of the programs we used as a Governing Board member at Connecting Point.

I worked as Admissions Nurse, teamed with a Social Worker. We did consults in homes, Assisted Living, SNF and acute hospitals. Once a person had made the decision to accept Hospice Care we opened the case. We assessed physical and emotional needs, provided anticipatory guidance regarding Hospice Care, and services, setup immediate contacts such as respiratory care, wound care. and equipment. We did immediate pain management plans, helped with care giver needs and then turned the case over to both case manager RNs and social workers.

I spent 9 years at Parke Davis as a Womens Health sales rep with a territory in San Francisco. Then I moved to Nevada County and worked a dream job at the Book Seller in Grass Valley I started Hospice in January of 2003

I was a staff RN in an Alternative Birth Center. Mt Zion was innovative and community oriented. We worked with women and families providing a home like environment and one on one nursing during labor, delivery, postpartum, and postpartum home visits . I taught childbirth classes, sibling preparation and ran early post partum groups. UCSF bought Mt Zion and closed the Birth Center. I left to have an adventure to work and ski in Taos New Mexico where I worked in an OB-Gyn office