Leadership

President/CEO and Founder

Betty Long, RN, MHA

VP of Professional Practice

Rebecca Rivkin-Czarkowski, RN, BSN, MPH

Manager of Data Metrics and Quality

Jessica Rudi, RN, BSN

Assistant Manager, Data Metrics and Quality

Teresa Duckworth, RN

Team Lead, PA MCC Programs

Jackie Kane, RN, BSN

Team Lead, NY/NJ MCC Programs

Andrea Spector, RN, MSN

President/CEO and Founder

Betty Long, RN, MHA

Betty Long, RN, MHA, is the President/CEO and Founder of Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates and a nationally recognized expert and speaker on patient advocacy. As a registered nurse since 1986, she has experience in clinical, management and consulting capacities. In addition, she has a long history of healthcare advocacy with special expertise in critical care, long-term care and geriatric care management. She is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Case Management Society of America as well as the Forum of Executive Women in Philadelphia. In 2024, she continues to serve as President of the Board of Trustees for The Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania. In October 2024, Betty received the Mary Ann Garrigan Award presented by The Nursing Archive Associates for her substantial contributions to or in support of the nursing profession. More specifically her contributions in the areas of leadership and practice as well as advocacy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

VP of Professional Practice

Rebecca Rivkin-Czarkowski, RN, BSN, MPH

Nurse Czarkowski, who joined Guardian Nurses in 2015, is responsible for training, developing and coaching all of our RNs. She also serves as our Director of West Coast Operations. Nursing is a second career for Rebecca. Since graduating 13 years ago from nursing school, she has worked as an emergency room nurse in several hospitals before taking a role as a case manager and team lead, managing 19 care managers in a specialty oncology hospital.

Manager of Data Metrics and Quality

Jessica Rudi, RN, BSN

After several years of coaching and advising our nurses who work in our Complex Care MCC Programs, Nurse Rudi has been promoted (December 2021) to Manager of Data Metrics and Quality. In that role, she will be responsible for both our internal and external reporting. Clinically, she has extensive experience working with diverse clinical situations including cardiac, endocrinology, and orthopedics.

Assistant Manager, Data Metrics and Quality

Teresa Duckworth, RN

Nurse Duckworth supports our data metrics and quality team as the assistant manager, a position she moved to after a successful role as a complex care nurse in Seattle. A native of Washington State, her clinical experience includes hospital nursing–on med-surg, telemetry and labor & delivery units, as well as in long-term care at a skilled nursing facility.

Team Lead, PA MCC Programs

Jackie Kane, RN, BSN

Nurse Kane leads our Mobile Care Coordinator (MCC) Nurses who work in our Pennsylvania programs. She has more than 33 years in nursing with experience managing a large cardiology physician practice. She has also worked in pediatrics, adult critical care, and nursing management.

Team Lead, NY/NJ MCC Programs

Andrea Spector, RN, MSN

Nurse Spector leads the nurses who work in our New York and New Jersey Mobile Care Coordinator (MCC) Programs. Having been a nurse for more than 35 years, Andrea has had roles in acute care nursing, school nursing, consulting, home care, and nursing administration.

Our Nurses

Nurse Advocate

Michelle Agnese, RN, MSN

Nurse Advocate

Kelli Axner, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Lindsay Aliano, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Diane Bassett, RN

Nurse Advocate

Nicole Botta, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Eileen Calderbank, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate

Ramona Cooper, RN, MSN

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Donahue, RN

Nurse Advocate

Carolyn Ewald, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate

Sara Fiske, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate

Jeneane Fitzmaurice, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Lori Fitzpatrick, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Annissa Hensley, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Samuel Hirst, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Belinda Hudson, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Charlotte Jaroma, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Kenny, RN, CEN

Nurse Advocate

Walker LaFleur, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Crystal Leonardi, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Tish McBride, RN

Nurse Advocate

Diane McCaffery, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Stephanie McCool, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Joe McLaughlin, RN

Nurse Advocate

Jeanette Meredith, RN

Nurse Advocate

Heather Munizza, RN, MSN

Nurse Advocate

Monica Nash, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Tonya Niverson, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Suzy Parker, RN

Nurse Advocate

Erika Parrish, RN

Nurse Advocate

Daniela Pellicciotti, RN

Nurse Advocate

Janice Penn, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Bianca Pollart, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Prater, RN, MSN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate

Lori Rivkin, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Samantha Salerno, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Crystal Santoro, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Kate Sharrow, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Alicia Spataro, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Paula Spector, RN, BSN

Social Worker

Damali N. Stansbury, LSW, MSW

Nurse Advocate

Megan Swider, RN

Nurse Advocate

Kelly Welden, RN

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer White, RN, MSN

Nurse Advocate

Stephanie Wimmer, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Alonda Wood, RN, BSN

Nurse Advocate

Michelle Agnese, RN, MSN

Nurse Agnese joins our team after an 18-year career in case management, nursing education, and critical care nursing in hospitals both in New York city and in Northern New Jersey.

Nurse Advocate

Kelli Axner, RN, BSN

Nurse Axner brings more than 17 years of clinical nursing experience, most recently as a pediatric emergency room nurse in South Jersey. Though she does have adult med-surg experience early in her career, her passion has always been helping parents and kids during scary times.

Nurse Advocate

Lindsay Aliano, RN, BSN

Nurse Aliano has been a nurse for 14 years and recently (June 2021) completed her BSN degree. She has worked as a staff nurse in oncology as well as in interventional radiology, and also has management experience in running an interventional radiology unit.

Nurse Advocate

Diane Bassett, RN

Nurse Bassett has enjoyed a 29 year career in nursing as well as a variety of roles in that time, most of them in South Jersey. Med-surg nursing, operating room, clinical trials, nursing management, case management and ambulatory care are just a few of the roles she has held.

Nurse Advocate

Nicole Botta, RN, BSN

Nurse Botta joins us with more than 15 years’ experience in clinical nursing and healthcare marketing in the Long Island area . She has advocated for patients and families through inpatient stays and has worked with families, providers, clinics and community agencies to make sure patients got the appropriate treatment.

Nurse Advocate

Eileen Calderbank, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Calderbank brings more than 35 years of nursing experience to her nurse advocate’s role. To her credit, 30 years in, she received her BSN degree in 2017. Her career has spanned many roles in critical care and most recently managing a cardiac catheterization lab.

Nurse Advocate

Ramona Cooper, RN, MSN

Nurse Cooper joins our team after spending 24 years in acute care nursing, 20 of which was in pediatrics. Most recently she worked in primary care programs as a triage nurse and as a mobile nurse with Amazon Care.

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Donahue, RN

After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, Nurse Donahue found nursing and has never looked back. Now 23 years as a nurse, she has experience in hospital med-surg and post-partum units as well as insurance case management and community health.

Nurse Advocate

Carolyn Ewald, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Ewald joins our team with 18 years of nursing experience—the majority of that spent in in-patient critical care. She earned her BSN from University of Pittsburgh and has maintained her Certified Critical Care Nurse (CCRN) certification since 2007.

Nurse Advocate

Sara Fiske, RN, BSN, CCRN

Nurse Fiske joins our team after 12 years in South Jersey acute care hospitals, more specifically as a staff nurse on surgical post-op units, detox units, and critical care units. She has the distinction of being a certified critical care nurse (CCRN) which requires rigorous course work as well as passing an exam.

Nurse Advocate

Jeneane Fitzmaurice, RN, BSN

Nurse Fitzmaurice began her nursing career in 2002 and has held several clinical roles in acute care. She has served the public in nursing roles spanning from student health to bedside nursing, to research nursing, to long term care.

Nurse Advocate

Lori Fitzpatrick, RN, BSN

Nurse Fitzpatrick began her nursing career in 1993 and through the years, has worked in both pediatric and adult nursing as well as several positions in clinical research and clinical trials.

Nurse Advocate

Annissa Hensley, RN, BSN

Nurse Hensley joins Guardian Nurses with more than 23 years of healthcare experience in not just acute care hospitals but also in international missionary work in Cambodia and Mexico. Her recent experience has been in critical care units and interventional radiology units.

Nurse Advocate

Samuel Hirst, RN, BSN

Nurse Hirst has many years of mental health nursing experience, particularly in dual diagnosis treatment facilities. Prior to specializing in mental health, he worked as a staff nurse.

Nurse Advocate

Belinda Hudson, RN, BSN

Nurse Hudson has enjoyed more than 20 years in case management for a national organization before joining Guardian Nurses’ west coast team.  Prior to that, she had diverse clinical experiences including labor and delivery and mental health.

Nurse Advocate

Charlotte Jaroma, RN, BSN

Nurse Jaroma has more than 20 years in nursing, mostly in the emergency department as a staff nurse and in leadership, but also cared for patients on telemetry and cardiac units. She brings great passion to her support of patients.

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Kenny, RN, CEN

Nurse Kenny has worked for 22 years in healthcare, first as a medical technologist and for the last 19 years as a nurse in the emergency room, home care and in an outpatient endoscopy center.

Nurse Advocate

Walker LaFleur, RN, BSN

Walker joins the GN team after nine years as a nurse both in Florida and Washington state. He brings with him both acute care hospital experience as well as an outpatient dialysis clinic. He most recently managed two dialysis clinics, overseeing a 50-person team, in Northwest Washington.

Nurse Advocate

Crystal Leonardi, RN, BSN

Crystal began her nursing career in 2001 as a staff nurse on the cardiothoracic surgical step-down unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital: Weill Cornell and spent 10 years there. Since then, she has raised her family and worked a variety of per-diem positions in the NY/NJ area.

Nurse Advocate

Tish McBride, RN

Nurse McBride has more than 29 years as a nurse delivering patient care in med-surg and rehab units, as well as roles as a clinical care coordinator and IV/PICC Line specialist. She also has done compliance reviews and managed an out-patient chemotherapy center.

Nurse Advocate

Diane McCaffery, RN, BSN

Nurse McCaffery has spent her 15 year career caring for adults on telemetry, stroke and dialysis units in acute care hospitals as well as several years working as a case manager in hospice.

Nurse Advocate

Stephanie McCool, RN, BSN

Nurse McCool brings 16 years of diverse nursing experience to her role as a Nurse Advocate. Having started in labor and delivery nursing, she went on to roles in home health, care management, clinical research and finally as a Program Coordinator of the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) Program.

Nurse Advocate

Joe McLaughlin, RN

Nurse McLaughlin comes to our team with more than 20 years of experience including acute care in hospital and then most recently as a manager in a large telephonic based care coordination company.

Nurse Advocate

Jeanette Meredith, RN

Nurse Meredith has more than 20 years of experience providing care to a wide range of patient populations, including home care. She began her nursing career working with residents of a long term care facility followed by many years as a staff nurse at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, in med-surg and cardiac care units.

Nurse Advocate

Heather Munizza, RN, MSN

Nurse Munizza joins our team with 15 years of nursing experience, most of it in acute care hospitals first as a staff nurse on med-surg and telemetry units and later as a clinical supervisor and nurse manager. She has also been a clinical instructor for several nursing programs.

Nurse Advocate

Monica Nash, RN, BSN

Nurse Nash brings more than 25 years of experience to her role at Guardian Nurses most of which has been in tertiary care both as a staff nurse and manager. She has also worked in home care and hospice.

Nurse Advocate

Tonya Niverson, RN, BSN

Nurse Niverson brings more than 17 years of experience in hospital, specialty and primary care settings which included NICU, pediatric, adult, behavioral health, and oncology populations.

Nurse Advocate

Suzy Parker, RN

Nurse Parker joins our Seattle team as the Mobile Care Coordinator RN for the Northwest Sheet Metal Workers Health Care Trust, our newest MCC Program. Prior to joining our team, Suzy enjoyed a 35 year career in nursing including roles in hospital acute care, behavioral health/substance use programs, and case management.

Nurse Advocate

Erika Parrish, RN

Nurse Parrish joins our team with 14 years of clinical nursing experience primarily working with children in acute care hospitals. She has also worked as a case manager in several organizations both in and out of acute care as well as having worked in home care.

Nurse Advocate

Daniela Pellicciotti, RN

Nurse Pellicciotti rejoins our team in 2024 after several years away enjoying her grandchildren. She has more than 30 years of diverse nursing experience including adult med-surg, pediatrics, nursing management, eating disorder treatment and reproductive health. Welcome back!

Nurse Advocate

Janice Penn, RN, BSN

Nurse Penn has been a registered nurse since 2008 and has primarily worked in acute care cardiology units prior to joining Guardian Nurses.

Nurse Advocate

Bianca Pollart, RN, BSN

Nurse Pollart joins our team after seven years of inpatient experience in a variety of settings, including an adult medical-surgical and cardiac telemetry unit, neonatal intensive care, pediatric cardiac intensive care, general pediatric intensive care, and general pediatric medical floors that specialized in a variety of medical conditions.

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer Prater, RN, MSN, CCRN

Nurse Prater joins our team with extensive experience in critical care and management in acute care hospitals. She also has home care and nursing education experience.

Nurse Advocate

Lori Rivkin, RN, BSN

Nurse Rivkin joins our team with more than 35 years of diverse clinical experience starting with acute care hospital nursing and for the last many years, working in home care and hospice for a large faith-based organization.

Nurse Advocate

Samantha Salerno, RN, BSN

Nurse Salerno received her BSN from Liberty University in Virginia and has enjoyed a 15 year career in emergency departments, home care and hospice as well as geriatric care. Most recently, she led an out-patient endoscopy center as the clinical leader.

Nurse Advocate

Crystal Santoro, RN, BSN

Nurse Santoro joins our team after working most recently as a nurse specializing in the care of diabetic patients. Prior to that experience, she spent many years working in direct patient care in acute care hospitals in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Nurse Advocate

Kate Sharrow, RN, BSN

Nurse Sharrow joins our team after a 10 year tenure at bedside in a tertiary care medical center in New Jersey in which she cared for all types of medical and surgical patients.

Nurse Advocate

Alicia Spataro, RN, BSN

Nurse Spataro joins Guardian Nurses after more than 20 years’ experience in multiple areas of nursing, mostly within the acute critical care units in the South Jersey area.

Nurse Advocate

Paula Spector, RN, BSN

Nurse Spector has more than 17 years of experience in hospital, adult intensive care, adult and pediatric critical care transport, emergency medicine, home health, case management, and outpatient psychiatric care environments.

Social Worker

Damali N. Stansbury, LSW, MSW

We are very proud to welcome Damali to our team as she is our first social worker! With experience in providing behavioral health services to children and families, Damali will support our team of nurses and together, they will support our patients’ behavioral health needs.

Nurse Advocate

Megan Swider, RN

Nurse Swider has more than 22 years in nursing most recently working with long-term care patients. She brings many years of experience in general medical -surgical nursing as well as acute and subacute rehabilitation.

Nurse Advocate

Kelly Welden, RN

Nurse Welden has more than 14 years of clinical experience both in pediatrics and adult care. Her hospital nursing background includes case management, neurology, ER and critical care. She also has home care experience both as a case manager and as a nurse manager.

Nurse Advocate

Jennifer White, RN, MSN

Nurse White comes to us after working for the last six years in home infusion. Prior to that, she had spent 12 years working in the emergency services department in South Jersey.

Nurse Advocate

Stephanie Wimmer, RN, BSN

Nurse Wimmer comes to Guardian Nurses after a long career in acute care. Her experiences include staff nurse, home care nurse, case manager, educator and manager.

Nurse Advocate

Alonda Wood, RN, BSN

Nurse Wood, who hails from West Virginia, has been a nurse for more than 34 years working first in critical care in Philadelphia, but after finding home care nursing in 1995, she never looked back.  She enjoys establishing supportive relationships with her home bound patients.

Support Staff

Office Manager

Michele Murphy

Systems Manager

Joyce Pedrick

Administrator – Advocacy

Kelly Zoller

Office Manager

Michele Murphy

Michele manages the administrative operations of our entire team and is responsible for taking care of our new headquarters.

Systems Manager

Joyce Pedrick

Joyce oversees our team’s expanding technology needs as well as having responsibility for maintaining our data and client reporting.

Administrator – Advocacy

Kelly Zoller