Rosa Vargas, RN, BSN
Rosa Vargas, RN, BSN
Accountable Care Manager
NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Morrisania
22 years of service
“I believe in teaching my patients the right way to take care of themselves.”
As patients struggle to understand conflicting and sometimes misleading medical information from the media and internet, Rosa Vargas is continually seeking new ways to improve patient education.
“There is a lot of misinformation currently out there, so I believe it is important to educate our patients,” she says. “I hope they take away from the experience the fact that we are here to help them and to give them the voice to know it’s up to them.”
Although she has been with NYC Health + Hospitals for slightly less than three years, Vargas has worked in several different practice settings, including home care nursing and homecare management, intensive care, adult-based center nursing and care management.
“I have always been interested in nursing and feel that I approach my patients with compassion and understanding,” she says. “Compassion is what makes people feel better. I always try to teach them so that they can take care of themselves.”
Throughout these varied health care venues, one thing has remained constant: the joy she gets from helping her patients. “Every time I help a patient achieve a lifelong change – enabling them to stay in a stable condition – it is a wonderful moment,” she says. This includes educating patients about the importance of eating right, managing medications and providing information and resources so that patients can maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“I am always trying to teach patients the right way to take care of themselves; I hold myself accountable to teach them,” she says.