Wishing Her the Best After 17 Dedicated Years

Catherine “Cathy” Richards, Infection Prevention LVN within Sierra View Medical Center’s Distinct Part Skilled Nursing Facility (DP/SNF) is retiring after 17 dedicated years of service.

Cathy has been in healthcare for much of her life and has experience in several areas of healthcare, making her a well-rounded and knowledgeable asset to Sierra View. Before coming to Sierra View, she worked in the Palm Springs and San Diego areas in service lines, including Orthopedic and Neurologic Healthcare, Telemetry, Intensive Coronary Care, and Allergy and Immunology. During the first Gulf War, she also worked at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton Emergency Department. Cathy then moved on to Sharp Healthcare Urgent Care and Sony Corp., and also worked in Occupational Health in a major remote construction site for the building of a reservoir in the North County of San Diego.

“The more I learned and the more I did, the more I liked the variety in nursing,” Cathy added.

Cathy made the move to the Central Valley in 2004 after seeing an SVMC recruitment piece that validated her desire to make a shift in her life. “I wanted to move to a place that didn't require a plan to get to a movie,” Cathy said. “Nor did I want to sit on a freeway for two hours going home from work.”

In her role here at Sierra View, Cathy has been responsible for helping to decrease the incidence and transmission of infectious diseases between patients, staff, visitors and the community within the DP/SNF. Through collaborative strategic planning, leadership and consultation, she led and directed a robust team in the identification and implementation of infection prevention goals and objectives throughout her department. She also educated, conducted surveillance and participated in the organization-wide Infection Prevention Program and its activities.

“In the end, it's all about the patient and knowing what that person is going through and having the knowledge and opportunity to help them,” said Cathy. “I paraphrase one of my favorite quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘...to be compassionate, to have it make a difference that you have lived and lived well.’ So, I hope I have made a difference.”

She also spent much of her time at Sierra View as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) instructor for house-wide SVMC CNA certification and renewals, which was one of her favorite things about her job. Keeping up with the latest CNA regulations, Cathy served as a resource for the organization, and her department, which was crucial for keeping guidelines specific for the DP/SNF up-to-date.

Cathy is looking forward to retirement and spending time with her daughter and her Lhasa Apso mix dog when she’s not reading ‘all the good books’. She also has big plans to meet her distant relatives in New England at a family reunion. But she will also miss the close connections she has made with different departments including Education, Infection Prevention, Therapy Services, Laboratory, and Pharmacy, and hospital vendors.

We are all going to miss Cathy as well and wish her the best in this new chapter in life!