Forget the craziness of teenage years.
For Jasmine Montgomery, she traded angst for passion, knowing that she would grow up to chase a career caring for others.
At 16 she began working as a dietary aide in a nursing home.
"From the nursing home, I moved on to internships with retirement communities, got my bachelor's degree in health care administration, and now I'm setting my sights on a master's degree," Montgomery said.
Today, at Heron Cove at Sanders in the Gloucester Village on Main Street, Montgomery enjoys putting her skills to work in an environment that promotes camaraderie and learning.
"Riverside is definitely about being a team player, and I feel like they're about growth –they're about teaching us the different avenues we can take, and how to be truly proficient in our job areas," she said.
Over the years, Montgomery has learned that the medical field is a labor of love. And the people who stand out are the ones who have the deepest love for people.
"It takes a lot of patience, and you have to have the kind of compassion to understand what people are going through at different stages of their care. You have to be caring and compassionate overall to be in this field," said Montgomery.
She said that Heron Cove at Sanders, the first deinstitutionalized nursing home to open in Virginia, is an especially wonderful nursing facility because it follows a household model.
"Residents are leaving one home to go to another, and the memories we share here and the things that we're able to do with them are the same things they were able to do at home," Montgomery said. "And that's what makes us very special here at Sanders."