With the opening of the new Transitional Care Unit (TCU), Sheridan Memorial Hospital is excited to introduce the physician and Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) who will care for patients on the unit.
Dr. Rita Cherni-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine physician, was born and raised in Sheridan County and graduated from Tongue River High School. She served our veterans at the Sheridan VAMC for fifteen years and is bringing her expertise to the new TCU. Rita enjoys bedside care and has expertise in non-interventional pain management and palliative care. When she isn’t working, Dr. Cherni-Smith can be found irrigating and farming on the ranch at the foot of the Bighorns where she grew up. She is passionate about physical fitness and loves to garden and cook.
Dr. Cherni-Smith looks forward to working with Brenda Fischer, the FNP who will also provide care for TCU patients. The two women worked together at the VAMC and are pleased to resume a professional relationship in the beautiful new unit that will offer so much to the people of Sheridan.
Brenda cannot remember a time when she didn’t want to be a nurse. She is passionate about working on the TCU because of a positive experience with home health services when her mother was ill. Through this experience, Brenda realized how essential it is for people to be as independent as possible in their homes to maintain optimal health and well-being. Brenda’s guiding principle for her practice is “Don’t complicate things.” She believes in addressing the fundamentals of health first, then building on that foundation as the patient’s health improves. She has been an FNP since 2010 and looks forward to bringing her steady, individualized approach to patients on the TCU.
When not at work, Brenda can be found outside, gardening, cooking and enjoying time in the country with her children and grandchildren. She first moved to Sheridan in 1977 and returned to Wyoming after a brief time away and has lived here since 1991.
“It has been great working alongside Dr. Cherni-Smith and Brenda as we open the new, expanded TCU,” says Tommi Ritterbusch, RN and manager of the new unit. Their collaboration, excitement and enthusiasm about joining the SMH team is contagious and I look forward to it translating into positive experiences for our patients as well as everyone involved in their care.”
To learn more about Transitional Care at Sheridan Memorial Hospital, click HERE or visit: