Blue Ridge Care is committed to developing the next generation of caregivers. In 2025, we entered a clinical affiliation agreement with Laurel Ridge Community College, creating new opportunities for nursing and EMS students to gain real-world, hands-on experience.
The goal of our collaboration is to:
- introduce students to the unique impact of comfort-focused care, and
- help prepare compassionate, skilled healthcare professionals for the future.
For nursing student Helen Gillespie, the experience did exactly that — leading her from a clinical rotation at Blue Ridge Care to a career serving patients and families as a member of our team.
Discovering the Heart of Hospice
A student at Laurel Ridge Community College, Helen spent her two-year nursing program rotating through hospital units — each semester offering something new, fast-paced, and clinically complex. For her capstone placement, she chose hospice somewhat cautiously, wondering how it would be different from everything she had seen before.
That difference was clear right away.
Paired with a preceptor on the field nursing team, Helen stepped into a model of care centered not on curing, but on comfort, dignity, and time. She followed the same patients week after week, building relationships in a way that wasn’t possible in previous rotations. “That continuity changed everything,” Helen says.
One patient, in particular, left a lasting impression.
Helen visited her regularly throughout the rotation, getting to know her in the quiet, steady rhythm that hospice care allows. Near the end of the experience, when Helen shared that her rotation was coming to a close, the patient paused to thank her — not for a specific task, but for how she had been cared for.
The patient told Helen she had felt comfortable, supported, and like she was truly a priority.
It was a small moment on the surface. But for Helen, it clarified something deeper about the kind of nurse she wanted to become. “That moment really stayed with me,” Helen says. “It showed me what this kind of care means.”
In most healthcare settings, care plans often focus on intervention and recovery. In hospice, the goal is to help patients make the most of the time they have, surrounded by the people and things that matter most.
“I really connected with that,” Helen says. “Being part of a team that supports quality of life, and supports families through it, that’s something special.”
By the end of her eight-week rotation, the decision felt clear. Hospice nursing wasn’t just an interest. It felt like a calling.
From Student to Team Member
After graduating in June 2025, Helen returned to Blue Ridge Care — this time as a member of the team.
“You meet amazing patients everywhere in nursing,” Helen says. “But here, you really get to know them. You get to know their families. That’s one of the most meaningful parts of the job.”
For students considering their own clinical rotations, Helen encourages keeping an open mind.
“Hospice is different,” she says. “The skills are used in different ways, and the goals are different — but you can still make such a meaningful impact. You can help people heal in other ways.”
Helen credits her Blue Ridge Care preceptors and leaders for shaping her experience and helping her grow into her role.
What began as a required clinical rotation has become the start of her career — and a place where her work feels both personal and purposeful.
“The team at Blue Ridge Care made me excited to be a nurse,” Helen says. “Everyone is so open. You can ask questions, you can lean on each other. Sometimes you just need a friend, and this team really shows up for each other.”
“I’m just really grateful,” Helen says, “to Laurel Ridge for the opportunity, and to Blue Ridge Care for welcoming students like me. It made all the difference.”
