Birgitte Randall
Vice President
Registered Nurse (R.N.)
I am Birgitte, I was born and raised in Magalia, CA. I started working at FRH when I was 18 as a Physical Therapy Tech. There I found my passion and wanted to become a nurse. After High school, I enrolled in the pre-requisites for the nursing program at Butte College. I worked as a PT tech, ER tech, and ER admitting while I completed my pre-requisites it was at Butte College, I met my husband Lonnie who also was going to school to become a nurse. It took me 6 tries and 3 years but I finally got into nursing school in 2016. While I was waiting to get into the program Lonnie and I got married and bought our first home together in Paradise, CA with our two dogs. I continued to work as an ER tech while in nursing school where I found another passion in ER Medicine and wanted to become an ER nurse as soon as I graduated. Luckily FRH ER took new grads. I graduated Nursing School in December 2017 and in February 2018 I started working as an ER Nurse. My friend Whitney from nursing school was also was hired with me and got a job in the ICU. Together we suffered through night shift together as new nurses, or "baby nurses"
Any nurse knows that the first year of being a nurse is truly a challenge in itself; it's like all your pre-requisites and nursing school rolled into one. It is scary, stressful, and also exciting all at once. I always felt supported by my co-workers as a “baby nurse”. I felt I landed myself the dream job for a new graduate in nursing.
I worked my last shift at FRH the night of November 7th. On November 8th everything changed. I lost my home, job, and town in a matter of hours.
Whitney (my “baby nurse friend”) has the most caring soul and wanted to help, she lived in Chico and though she lost her job and her mother had lost her home, she was still affected immensely. Whitney took my mom, (also a nurse at FRH), and me to the East Ave Church. She had seen a Facebook post regarding the need for nurses. On November 9th we started working as volunteer nurses at a "pop-up shelter”, meaning the shelter did not have any Red Cross assistance. It was only medical professionals like us showing up to help. What ensued the following 6 weeks was nothing short of amazing. We were able to put together a 24/7 medical team. We worked with Direct Relief, a non-profit which provides medication and medical supplies to disaster effected areas. For weeks we worked sometimes 24 hours straight as medical providers while coming up with innovated ideas together to help each and every evacuee receive medical care.
From all of that, several us from what we named the EAC, had a small idea of creating a free clinic, thus came Medpsire Health. We are a team that is passionate about providing free medical care to the ridge as it rebuilds. Being a girl from Paradise, who also lost a home, I feel I connect with our patients. I can share stories of that awful day and relate to each and every individual story.
I hope Medpsire Health can bring a sense of hope to my community as it rebuilds. Paradise, Magalia, and Concow, were beautiful small towns with trees everywhere. Those of us that lived on the ridge took pride in our quiet life. I hope to be a part of rebuilding my town to something even better than before. What I loved most about living in Paradise, was how easy it was to get outside. Hiking was just in my very backyard. The flumes were a favorite place for my husband and me to spend our days off with our dogs. I want to continue learning as an ER Nurse now working at Rideout ER and Enloe ER all while working as the Vice President of Medpsire Health. It is truly an honor every day to have a career that can help so many people. I also get to work alongside so many compassionate, driven, and hardworking individuals every day with Medpsire Health. I am Birgitte, and I am #ridegstrong.