Rhonda Chase, RNC
Rhonda Chase, RNC
For Nurse Navigator Rhonda Chase, the Hospital has provided more than a job for the last 35 years.
With supportive supervisors and valuable advancement programs, the Hospital encouraged and supported her and her family as she expanded her education and medical training into a healthcare career and her “dream job.”
“I feel respected and appreciated in my roles here,” Rhonda said. “I’ve been lucky to have managers who didn’t box me in, but instead, looked at and valued my potential and gave me the opportunities for growth.”
The opportunities included financial support and flexible hours that helped her earn a business administration degree, two nursing degrees and her obstetrics nursing certification, as well as in-house training for leadership and other Hospital skills.
Rhonda started at the Hospital in 1985 as an administrative assistant in the former Community Services Department which included public affairs, marketing and community health education. While there, she attended UNH classes and earned an Associate of Science degree in business administration.
Two nursing degrees later, she now is a Medical Home Nurse Navigator for Concord Hospital Medical Group (CHMG), coordinating complex care for high-risk obstetrical and gynecological patients while serving as an advocate and liaison for patients across the health system and with community partners.
In between, her jobs included executive assistant to a Hospital vice president, manager for a former Hospital weight loss clinic, licensed nursing assistant, 11 years as a registered nurse caring for mothers and newborns at The Family Place and clinical leader at Concord Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Through her journey, Rhonda’s managers supplied more than encouragement. With Hospital tuition support, they also offered flexible hours that enabled her to attend classes and tend to her daughter’s special food allergy needs.
“I was very lucky to have that opportunity,” she said.
As part of her public affairs job, Rhonda worked closely with the then-director of The Family Place to plan an open house for the program.
“During the project, I confessed that I had wanted to become a nurse and the director said ‘Why aren’t you a nurse? Why aren’t you doing this?’ She gave me that push I needed to take the first step,” Rhonda said.
So, she earned an Associate of Science degree in nursing at NHTI and began working at The Family Place.
A decade later, after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at UNH, she helped write a proposal for a nurse navigator position at CHMG.
“It sounded like my dream job,” Rhonda said, so she applied and got the job.
“It seemed like it was ideal for me at the time and it really is — and that’s what I’m doing now,” she said.
“I have had so many good bosses here,” she said. “If you have a good boss, it makes the biggest difference.
They consistently challenged me to take on new responsibilities, then supported me with flexible hours for my family and education so I could have a good family and work balance.”
