For Rochelle Ratliff, nursing isn’t just a job, it’s a calling. A Senior Licensed Vocational Nurse, or LVN, Rochelle helps care for some of Venice Family Clinic’s most vulnerable patients: those experiencing homelessness.

Born and raised in Inglewood, Rochelle has always been drawn to helping others. She started in health care just before the pandemic, working triage care during one of the most challenging times in modern medicine. “That’s when I truly became a nurse,” she says. “COVID-19 was trial by fire. It taught me what it meant to be gentle with people. It changed my perspective on compassion.”

At the Chuck Lorre Rose Avenue Health and Wellness Center, no two days are the same. Rochelle and her team move fast, treating patients who often arrive in crisis. “It’s nonstop, but we make it work,” she says. “The hardest part is knowing that some patients face barriers to care beyond our doors and beyond our ability to help. But when I can help someone get someone the treatment, resources and support they need to move forward, it makes every challenge worth it.”

For Rochelle, giving her all isn’t a choice, it’s who she is. “If it were my mother, my sister, my aunt in need, I’d want them to have the best care. So that’s what I give to my patients,” she says. “Even if I have to go to my car and cry after a long day, I know I did everything I could.”

And she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. “This is challenging work, but I want to be where the need is. We hustle here, we push for our patients, and we go hard for them—because that’s what Venice Family Clinic does,” she says. “The people who work here have been here for decades. I’m at the start of my journey, but I know this is my home.”