Inspired to a career in health care out of a desire to take care of others, Natasha Nicole Washington has garnered considerable experience over the years. Embarking on her studies in the pre-nursing program at Hinds Community College, she ultimately attained certification as a nursing assistant and in phlebotomy and began her career in 2012 as a hospice caretaker. Continuing to offer her services to clients and families after hours, Ms. Washington realized that she could make a greater impact by running her own personal and companion care agency. In 2015, she founded Washington Home Health Agency LLC, which has since grown from zero to 15 employees. Looking toward the future, Ms. Washington plans to open additional offices and establish some related businesses to help the agency grow. At the moment, she has plans for a uniform/scrub store and a certified nursing assistant school.
Continuing to develop her skills throughout her career, Ms. Washington has learned numerous lessons that have led to professional and personal growth. She has learned how to identify the specific physical needs of patients, including patients with mental and physical disabilities who may need a very different approach from the standard, and developed a wide range of communication skills to help her communicate with many different people. Furthermore, she has cultivated a knowledge of the different levels of home care, including rehabilitation, restorative care, and end of life care. Ms. Washington would advise young and aspiring professionals not to choose their career path based on money, but rather based on what gives them joy and what they feel called to do.
Also incredibly involved in her community, Ms. Washington has contributed her skills to health fairs, job fairs, and various celebratory and fundraising efforts. She has also worked delivering lunches to different home health agencies, hospice companies, hospitals, nursing homes and the private homes of veterans and the elderly. Furthermore, she aspires to establish a modeling agency in the community to help young people build self-esteem. She also hopes to offer her wisdom to others as a motivational speaker to encourage others and remind them that if they believe in themselves, they can achieve anything. Attributing much of her success to her hard work and determination, Ms. Washington also credits her faith in God, and she is a member of the Greater Grove Street Missionary Baptist Church.
Ms. Washington has been the recipient of a number of honors and accolades over the course of her career. Most notably, she received a Reader’s Choice Award in 2020 and her agency was named #1 Home Health Agency by Best of the Best. Above everything, she considers the most rewarding part of her career to be the relationships that she has developed with her patients and their families and being able to provide them with care in the comfort of their own homes. She also notes a particular highlight came when she helped a patient find peace with God only a few days before his passing.
Deeply grateful to the people who have influenced and supported her over the years, Ms. Washington is particularly thankful to her pastor of over 20 years, Rev. Fisher; her best friend, Rhondilyn Semien Nix, who has been a great influence in both her career and personal life; and her director of nurses, Setoria James, who broadened her networking arena. Her brother, Timothy Washington, an entrepreneur, has also been an inspiring example of hard work and determination, and her close friends and fellow church members, Sonia Spivey and Nancy Sykes, have shown her how to be a virtuous woman of God. Finally, she is grateful to her financial adviser, Michael Cordell Weaver, for teaching her the skills she needed to become financially independent.
