Diane Gillen, RN

Grew up: All up and down the east coast

Joined Mission Hospice: 2015

What led me to hospice work: I was working as a manager at St. Luke’s Hospital in SF, and found myself wanting to be with people who either had been given a terminal diagnosis or were actively dying. Once I started the work of serving, I felt so at home, I knew it was the work for me.

How I came to Mission Hospice: I was working at another hospice agency, and came to the Mission Hospice office to visit folks I knew from other organizations where we’d worked together. To make a long story short, I had a quick interview and a job offer that very day.

Mission Hospice in three words: Complete loving kindness

Passion: I enjoy cooking, and pairing wine with the foods I cook

Favorite food: Seafood

Reading: “This is Getting Old: Exploring the Road Ahead” by Marian Herreid, who was my neighbor.

Desert island album: it would have to be a combination of something by Marvin Gaye, Teddy Pendergast, and John Coltrane.

Little known fact: After I quit being a Head Nurse at Mt. Zion in SF, I tended bar for about a year. After that, I returned to nursing, but it was a needed break. Now when I am having a bad day, I can say, “shoot, I’ll just go tend bar somewhere!”

On my bucket list: To take another cruise on a small ship, and to go back to St. Maarten.