Leadership

President/CEO and Founder

Betty Long, MHA, RN

VP of Professional Practice
Rebecca Rivkin-Czarkowski, MPH, BSN, RN

Manager of Data Metrics and Quality
Jessica Rudi, BSN, RN

Assistant Manager, Data Metrics and Quality
Teresa Duckworth, RN

Manager of Professional Development
Charlotte Jaroma, BSN, RN

Team Lead, PA MCC Programs
Jackie Kane, BSN, RN

Team Lead, NY/NJ MCC Programs
Andrea Spector, MSN, RN

President/CEO and Founder

Betty Long, MHA, RN

Betty Long, MHA, RN, 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, the award regcognized her contributions in the areas of leadership and practice as well as advocacy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

VP of Professional Practice

Rebecca Rivkin-Czarkowski, MPH, BSN, RN

Nurse Czarkowski, who joined Guardian Nurses in 2015, is responsible for the daily operations of our organization. She also serves as our Director of West Coast Operations. Nursing is a second career for Rebecca. Since graduating 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, BSN, RN

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.

Manager of Professional Development

Charlotte Jaroma, BSN, RN

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. After four years in the role of a Mobile Care Coordinator nurse, she was promoted to Manager of Professional Development and Education in March 2025.

Team Lead, PA MCC Programs

Jackie Kane, BSN, RN

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, MSN, RN

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
Eileen Calderbank, BSN, RN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate
Debra Dauphinais, MSN, RN

Nurse Advocate
Carolyn Ewald, BSN, RN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate
Sara Fiske, BSN, RN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate
Jeneane Fitzmaurice, BSN, RN

Nurse Advocate
Lori Fitzpatrick, BSN, RN

Nurse Advocate
Crystal Leonardi, BSN, RN

Nurse Advocate
Jennifer Prater, MSN, RN, CCRN

Nurse Advocate
Debrah Rodriguez, BSN, RN

Nurse Advocate
Samantha Salerno, BSN, RN

Social Worker
Damali N. Stansbury, LSW, MSW

Nurse Advocate

Michelle Agnese, MSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

Nurse Aliano has been a nurse for more than 16 years. 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

Christine Badillo, RN

Nurse Badillo has 18 years of nursing experience, more than 12 of which has been working with oncology patients. Her new role supporting the Operating Engineers Local 825 in New Jersey will offer her plenty of opportunity to use that experience!

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN, 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

Nadine Cooper, BSN, RN

Nurse Cooper joins our team with 20+ years of nursing experience, the most recent being at a national provider offering telephonic care coordination. While enjoying the advocacy role, she looks forward to providing more in-person support in her role as a Mobile Care Coordinator for the Iron Workers District Council of Philadelphia.

Nurse Advocate

Ramona Cooper, MSN, RN

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

Debra Dauphinais, MSN, RN

Nurse Dauphinais has more than 17 years of med-surg and cardiac care nursing experience in inpatient settings in Syracuse, NY. In addition, she has several years of experience in nursing education both in a clinical and classroom setting.

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, BSN, RN, 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, BSN, RN, 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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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. She supports our team as a per diem nurse.

Nurse Advocate

Annissa Hensley, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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

Joe McLaughlin, RN, CCM

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, MSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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. In 2024, we are proud to share that she won a Nightingale Award in the category of Community Nursing from the Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania.

Nurse Advocate

Tonya Niverson, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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

Jennifer Prater, MSN, RN, 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, BSN, RN

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

Debrah Rodriguez, BSN, RN

Nurse Rodriguez brings more than 11 years of expertise in clinical practice and healthcare systems management as a nurse care coordinator. As a public health nurse with the Niagara County (Buffalo, NY) Department of Health, Debrah spearheaded multiple care coordination initiatives designed to optimize care processes and enhance patient experiences.

Nurse Advocate

Samantha Salerno, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, MSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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, BSN, RN

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

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