Page 32 - BusinessWest July 7, 2025

Yirancis Rivera
She Serves as an Inspiration — in Any Language
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
Yirancis Rivera came to Springfield from Puerto Rico when she
was 7 years old.
She has many memories from her youth, but among those
that stand out are visits to healthcare facilities, where she would
serve as an interpreter for her mother — who didn’t speak any Eng-
lish — even though she was still learning the language herself and
was basically relying on what she learned from watching TV shows.
Yirancis Rivera, center, at the nurse pinning at Westfield State
University in May.
“I still remember walking into a hospital with my mom for the
first time ... the unfamiliar sounds, the sea of English words I didn’t
understand, and the weight of her trusting me to be her voice,” she
recalled. “I was overwhelmed but determined.”
Remember those two words.
In many ways, they define a truly inspiring story of how Rivera
overcame challenges, some long odds, and many occasions when
she felt overwhelmed to graduate from Westfield State University’s
nursing program and earn a job on N3, a med-surg unit at Cooley
Dickinson Hospital (CDH) in Northampton; she’s due to start in
early August.
Her story begins with that hospital visit with her mother, which
planted a seed, if you will, and motivated Rivera to become much
more than a mere translator.
“I wanted to be a nurse who could provide comfort and care, no
matter what language someone speaks,” she told BusinessWest.
“I developed a passion for helping others that is deeply personal.
Learning medical terminology in English felt like learning a second
language, and there were times when I doubted myself. But I kept
going, driven by the knowledge that families like mine need nurses
who truly understand them.
“I knew that I wanted to be someone my patients could look
up to in the sense that they speak the same language as me,” she
went on. “But I also saw that
there weren’t many nurses who
looked like me, and I wanted to
be part of that change.”
Returning to her youth, Rive-
“I still remember
walking into a
hospital with
my mom for the
first time ... the
unfamiliar sounds,
the sea of English
words I didn’t
understand, and
the weight of her
trusting me to be
her voice.”
Rivera
Continued on page 36 >>
Kim Larrier
Fascinated by the Mind, She Forged a Path in Psych Nursing
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
“When they come
in at their worst,
and they feel like
they have nothing
to live for, and
then, through
groups, meeting
with them,
medication ... it’s
nice to see people
get better.”
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JULY 7, 2025
When Kim Larrier started her rotation at the VA Central
Western Massachusetts Healthcare System in Leeds as a
student in the nursing program at American International
College, she had a pretty good idea what path her career might take.
By the time it was over, the die was cast.
“I was quite intrigued with how the mind works, and how medi-
cal issues can impact someone’s health,” she recalled. “On that rota-
tion ... to see people get better with their symptoms — I was quite
fascinated with how medications impact and how they can help
someone’s mental health.”
So, when it came time for her senior management rotation,
instead of a medical floor, which most students prefer, Larrier chose
the psych unit at Holyoke Medical Center (HMC). And more than 30
years later, she is still there, now serving as clinical coordinator of
the M5 Adult Behavioral Health Unit.
When asked what she likes about work in this realm, she quickly
replied, “everything.”
And what she likes most is seeing people get well.
“When they come in at their worst, and they feel like they have
nothing to live for, and then, through groups, meeting with them,
medication ... it’s nice to see people get better,” she said, adding that
the unit has a strong track record for success, one that drew the
attention of a brigadier general at the VA hospital she worked with
on her rotation, who sought insight from the team at HCC on how it
might be more helpful to veterans, especially with regard to suicide
prevention.
“Suicidal feelings are sometimes just a temporary feeling,” she
went on. “And my goal as a psychiatric nurse is to get them the treat-
ment so they don’t feel that way.”
There have been some difficult times on M5 — COVID was a
stern challenge, to say the least — and some very scary moments,
including the time several years ago when a brain-injured and deaf
patient threatened her with a
large piece of glass from the
door he shattered with a chair
in his room.
Larrier
Continued on page 36 >>
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