Welcoming Project Access West Tennessee’s new Bilingual Intake Specialist
“For the past four years I’ve been providing care for patients and helping them get the care they need, partnering with different specialties, organizations, and nonprofits. What has always motivated me in life is caring for other people, and I’ve found many ways to turn that into a caring work life that suits me perfectly,” said Nancy Becerra, Project Access West Tennessee’s new Bilingual Intake Specialist.
“For me, caring for patients is also about building relationships. I can get very attached to my patients. I care for them.”
Joining the Project Access team at The Memphis Medical Society in June, Nancy brought experience in patient care to her role, as well as maternal instinct and the fiery activism of a regular community volunteer.
Early in her career Nancy worked as a paralegal, followed by a stint at Dillard’s, both in local retail and as a social media creator for the brand nationally. She transitioned to healthcare when she entered nursing school while working at Campbell Clinic, shadowing hand specialist Dr. James Calandruccio and working in the operating room as a side chair, assisting with surgeries and absorbing all she could.
“I even got to stitch Dr. Beaty’s finger after a procedure,” she said, referring to MMS Board President James Beaty, M.D.
From there, her path led to Weston Family and Cosmetic Dentistry, in Jackson, Tennessee, assisting oral surgeries as a dental assistant. Like in the Campbell Clinic OR, she was thrilled to be side-by-side with the action.
“I got to help with extractions and stitch patients after the procedure. I was right there next to the doctor, passing tools, suctioning the blood, making sure the patients were safe and sedated,” said Nancy. “We did bone grafts and dentures, wisdom teeth extractions, veneers, all of it.”
But her favorite day of the week was Thursday, when her team, through a partnership with the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, saw special needs patients, sometimes in the homes or residential facilities.
“We would do whatever they needed, completely free for them. Our clinic was paid by the state program,” she said.
But the longs days took her away from things she loved, like time with family, and time to lend a hand to meaningful causes.
“Sometimes, I would be draining blood from patients from 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., and I realized it was also draining me,” she said.
Caring for others in need stoked a fire from the embers already burning, however, and Nancy needed more.
“When I read into the job of Bilingual Intake Specialist at Project Access West Tennessee, it was really a ‘wow’ moment for me,” she said. “I was familiar with The Memphis Medical Society because of my time at Campbell, but had no idea about Project Access. I learned more about MMS, and then about MedTemps, and suddenly I just wanted to join an organization where I could work efficiently in an office setting and still be able to feed my passion by helping patients in any way I could.”
Having settled into the pace of her new caregiver role connecting Spanish-speaking patients to the specialists they need, she’s found a purpose to guide her, and a rhythm that suits her.
Nancy and her nine-year-old daughter Gianna live just outside Memphis in Oakland. A big reader, Nancy also loves pool-side time with her family and teaching Gianna about the world. Her new lifestyle also lets her follow another passion- involvement at the community level as an activist and volunteer. “I don’t do this work, my job or my volunteering, just because we have a list of patients to serve each day, or strangers in a community to help,” said Nancy. “I do it because everyone is family to me. And a family helps each other.”
