Title: Registered Nurse (Retired), Cardiac Special Care Unit

Company: Marin General Hospital

Location: Greenbrae, Calif.

Initially, Judith Franchi became involved in her profession 42 years ago because she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. She became a registered nurse and received an Associate of Science in nursing, and pursued work in the health care arena. Now retired, she served her last 19 years in the field as a registered nurse in the cardiac special care unit at Marin General Hospital. The most gratifying aspect of her career is helping people; the gratitude expressed by a patient with a whispered ‘thank you’ or a squeeze of the hand makes what she does worthwhile. In five years, Ms. Franchi intends to travel, learn Arabic, and continue painting watercolors and carving statues.

Ms. Franchi served in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman and briefly explored a career in radio and television broadcasting before deciding to become a registered nurse. Her career has opened many doors for her, including the opportunity to work for 13 years at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the time, Western medicine was first being introduced to that part of the world, and Ms. Franchi met and worked with doctors and nurses from all over the world. Ms. Franchi now works with the bright and enthusiastic staff at the Cardiac Special Care Unit at Marin General Hospital in California, where she has been since 1992. Although she finds that computers are the mainstay and nurses’ responsibilities have increased along with the reliance on technology, Ms. Franchi still loves what she does. She also loves reading mysteries, watching the History Channel, creating pen and ink drawings, and painting pictures and scenes on rocks that she collects from the beach. She retains her appreciation of the Middle East and the Sahara Desert, and their antiquities.