National Nurses Week – Roxanne Segroves

In honor of Nurses Week 2017, Alzheimer’s Family Center (AFC) is releasing the portrait of its five wonderful nurses. Today, Nurse Roxanne Segroves tells us about her background.

Why did you want to become a nurse?

I wanted to be a nurse because my grandmother was a labor and delivery nurse. She shared many inspiring stories. I was a nurse’s aide in high school and spent my summers working in a nursing home. I worked for 12 years in a medical-surgical unit, and then transitioned to a mother-baby unit where I was a newborn nursery nurse like my grandma. Now I have my own stories to share. Visitors at the hospital often said they envied my “washing the babies” job, which I thought was a cute thing to say!

What do you like about being a nurse at AFC?

I love interacting with people and the patients here have wonderful stories. As the nurse dedicated to our early stage program (“New Connections Club”) , I feel very privileged to go out in the community with our patients. We go out to parks, gardens, libraries, and restaurants. We get to be outside and enjoy nature and each other’s company. I get to see how socialization positively affects our patients.  I also lead the AFC Saturday Social Club.  I get to use my creative side.   I have found that no matter what stage our patients are in there is an activity that promotes involvement and enjoyment.  I get to see our patients quality of life improve.

Tell us something that people would never guess about you.

I enjoy sailing and boating. I have been in different sailing races, including the all-women’s race Women’s Ocean Racing Series out of Dana Point Harbor. My team won the race 3 years in a row on a 27-foot sailboat called “Bang Bang Maxwell”.

Happy Nurses Week!