Derrice Gordon came to the U.S. from Guyana when she was seven.
“My career began as a teenage graduate of a high school Licensed Practical Nursing Program at Julia Richman High School,” she says of the start of her 31-year life in nursing.
After graduating, Ms. Gordon enrolled and graduated SUNY Downstate with her BSN and a MSN as a Family Practitioner.
She has worked as an assistant head nurse in the Respiratory Unit and in the Emergency Room at Brookdale Hospital.
Ms. Gordon now brings her decades-long practical experience to help train new generations of nurses. She co-owns two small businesses.
She established Ready to Pass, in Hempstead, in 2003, a program that assists nursing students preparing for the LPN and RN State Board Exams. “We provide 32–35 hours in a four or five-day review,” she says. “Many who take the course stay in contact with me,” she adds. “I mentor new graduates and as a professional often advise them on their career path.”
Her review course is also often brought to high school or community college nursing programs; recently, one was taught at Suffolk Community College.
“Last year, with two others, Ms. Gordon started Transitions Career Institute School of Nursing in Flushing. The school offers a Licensed Practical Nursing Program, which is registered by the New York State Education Department and accredited by the NY State Board of Regents. “About 50 students enrolled the first year,” she says. “It’s a diverse population and the majority are of Caribbean heritage; the majority of those are Haitian.”
Ms. Gordon has also been an adjunct professor at NYU and Beth Israel Nursing Schools.
