Pamela Quasney (co-Lead Mentor)
pjtq@yahoo.com
As a 20 year veteran Pamela has had a lot of experience with patient care and can appreciate the importance of a mentor who is not a member of the management who can help a newer RN adjust to their new environment. In addition to being a nurse mentor Pamela is also a Quality Liaison for her unit and takes a great deal of pride in her role as patient advocate.

Anita Leary (co-Lead Mentor)
slknucks1@comcast.net
Sequoia Hospital has been Anita's home for the 13 years she has been a nurse, and she has no plans on chaging that anytime soon.  She currently works in the Med/Surg/Ortho Unit and wears many different hats on the floor.  In addition to being a Staff Nurse taking care of patients at the bedside she is also very active in finding ways to improve the working conditions for her colleagues and herself.  One of the most recent ways Anita has done this was by accepting the position of co-Lead Mentor for Sequoia Hospital.  With this position she, along with Pamela Quasney, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Nurse Mentor Project and it is her dedication to the projects success that is helping it flourish.  When asked why she is so willing to give so much of herself, and time to this project she simply says that she would like to bring compassion, heart and soul back to the art of nursing, especially at Sequoia Hospital. 

Natalie Almaden
natalmaden@yahoo.com
Natalie has been a RN for 9 years and specializes in Telemetry. She currently works at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City and was a travel nurse prior to that. Natalie's from the Philippines and has lived in South Africa, which provides her with an understanding of what it is like to be the new person. She has been a preceptor for new grads, nursing students, and new employees. She gets a great deal of satisfaction from helping new nurses transition. Natalie has a BSN and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, & the Nightingale Society.

Glenda Phipps
glphipps@att.net
Glenda has been nursing for 3 ½ years and currently works at Sequoia Hospital. She specializes in cardiovascular care and enjoys her role as a preceptor. In addition to speaking English Glenda is also fluent in Tagalog, and Ilocano. She sees her role as mentor as being one where she will be able to help new RNs become comfortable with their new role.

Katrina Brugaletta
Katrina is an ICU nurse at Sequoia Hospital and has been there since she began nursing 5 years ago. She has her AA in nursing and her BS in Community Health Education. When asked what motivates people to participate in the mentor program most nurses recall experiences on the job, however Katrina's motivation actually comes from an experience she had long before she became a nurse. When she was in elementary school her class had an assignment to do a report on careers. Katrina decided to interview her neighbor who was a nurse and from that interview she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. Understanding how much that interview has directed her life and career choice and knowing that there are probably many others like her, Katrina would like to provide fellow nurses with the needed support so they too can realize their dreams.

Jamie Grosser
Jamie has been a staff nurse for 26 years and for 22 of those she has been working in the Med-Surg / Ortho-Oncology Unit at Sequoia Hospital. She has her BSN from Chico State University. Jamie remembers all the positive influences and the support that her experienced colleagues gave her when she was new and how much that helped her. She believes that far too many good nurses don't receive that type of support anymore and there are too many of them giving up and leaving the profession. Through positive examples and by providing a solid support system she believes that it is possible to reverse that trend and its this belief that has motivated her to participate in the mentor program.

Sally M. O'Brien
Sally O'Brien has been nursing for 16 years and has been at Sequoia Hospital for 10 of those. She currently works in Medical Surgical - Orthopedics and
prior to that she was in Sub acute Care. Sally's specialty is Medical Surgical nursing. She has her BSN from San Francisco State University and is currently continuing her education with courses in Political Science. Sally's motivation to become a mentor stems from her experiences working with student nurses and how those experiences remind her of the beginning of her nursing career. Sally considers herself to be very fortunate that when she began nursing she had several experienced nurse that became mentors for her. She is now that experienced nurse and would like to provide new nurse with the same type of help and support that she received.

Steven Freedman
psychcnsf@comcast.net
Steven has been an RN for 20 years, and most of that time has been spent in the mental health units. He knows from years of experience the importance of roper training in the field of Psych health nursing and since a mentor was very helpful for him he wants to return the favor to new RNs. His background as a clinical instructor will enable him to explain from a technical point of view what the job will require, and his experience will help mentees with the real life aspect of the job.

Patti Gruber
pattigruber@msn.com
Patti has been a RN for 13 years at Sequoia Hospital. She counts her organizational, and communication skills as her strong suits. She remembers how stressful her first year was and would like to make sure that when other new RNs are feeling that stress they have someone to turn to.

Claudia Schinn
fe.schinn@sbcglobal.net
Claudia has been a nurse at Sequoia Hospital for 20 years. Her area of specialty is the care of the cardiac patient. In her view, new nurses are a very precious commodity and require nurturing and support so that they will remain interested and focused on their new job. Claudia likes to deal with challenges and apply her critical thinking skills to difficult situations. She hopes that her ability to communicate with others will help her be a good mentor.

Jennifer Kettwig
jennifer_sutter@yahoo.com
Jennifer has been and RN in the Intensive Care Unit at Sequoia Hospital for over 5 years. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BSN degree and is a member of Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society. Jennifer enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with new hires and recent graduates. She takes great pride in caring for her patients and has tremendous respect for her fellow co-workers.

Alisone Rigolfi
arigolfi@comcast.net
Alysone has been a nurse for 26 years and specializes in Perinatal & Labor-Delivery. She currently works at on the Perinatal unit at Sequoia hospital. She received her BSN from Cal State in Bakersfield and is a member of AWHONN and CNA. Alysone's decision to take part in this program and become a mentor is based on her experiences as a newly graduated RN and understanding the importance of having someone to talk to and help you understand your new role as a nurse. In addition to her experience as a new grad she also understands what it is like to return to nursing after being gone for several years and how although you already have years of hands on experience as a nurse your new role and environment are very different and having a mentor helps make the return much easier.

Susan "Sue" Fletcher
suefletcher@earthlink.net
Early in her nursing career Sue was an LVN but worked quickly to earn her RN from San Francisco State University. A nurse now for thirty years she has found her niche working in the operating room. A twenty year veteran of the OR, Sue has great respect for the nurses working with her in this high-stakes specialty. She hopes to be a positive force in boosting professionalism and morale among her new peers.

Teri B Albertolle
talbertolle@sanbrunocable.com
Teri specializes in Open Heart and Vascular Surgery nursing and has worked in that department at Sequoia Hospital for the past 14 years. Prior to OHVS she was an OR nurse where she was the in-service coordinator, preceptor, and worked all cases. When asked what motivated her to become a mentor Teri responded that she loves being a nurse and she enjoys her job. She continues on to say that she is excited about sharing her knowledge with anyone who is interested. And she feels that training and ongoing support for new nurses is very important and who better to do that than experienced RNs. She also reminds us that they will be taking care of us someday.

Julie Kruljac
After earning her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the University of San Francisco in 1990, Julie began working at Sequoia Hospital and has been there ever since. She is currently assigned to their Med-Surg/Oncology/Ortho Unit. "Nursing can be fun" says Julie, and "I hope my enthusiasm will rub off on someone else.

Alla Mayorkis
amayorkie@pacbell.net
A graduate of the Ukraine Medical Nursing College, Alla has been in the nursing field for seven years. Four of those years in the Ukraine and the past three at Sequoia hospital specializing in Telemetry Cardiac. Alla is fluent in English, Russian and any Slavic language. Her hope, as a mentor, is to support newcomers, helping them to gain confidence and help teach critical thinking skills that are important in the critical Cardiac.