Laurie Rittgers, BSN, RN, CDP, Profiled By Influential Women, Brings Decades Of Experience To Compassionate Senior Care

PARAMUS, NJ, UNITED STATES, September 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As the Founder and CEO of Seniornest Homecare, Laurie Rittgers, BSN, RN, CDP Combines Clinical Expertise, Personal Experience, and a Deep Commitment to Advocacy to Help New Jersey Families Care For Their Loved Ones With Dignity and Confidence

Paramus, New Jersey – For nearly four decades, Laurie Rittgers has dedicated her professional life to one guiding principle: caring for people is more than a profession—it is a calling. A Registered Nurse, Certified Dementia Practitioner, Certified Health Coach, and Founder and CEO of Seniornest Homecare, Laurie has built her career around advocating for seniors, supporting families, and ensuring that individuals receive the compassionate, individualized care they deserve.

With a career spanning 37 years and experience across oncology, infusion therapy, cardiac and stroke care, assisted living, sub acute rehab, long term care and home healthcare, Laurie brings an extensive clinical perspective to the senior care industry. Today, through Seniornest Homecare, a nurse-owned home care company serving families throughout New Jersey, she is putting that experience into practice through a model centered on dignity, trust, accessibility, and doing what is genuinely best for each client.

Laurie’s journey into senior home care was deeply personal. Her grandmother lived with dementia for nearly 12 years at home, giving Laurie firsthand insight into both the challenges and rewards families experience when caring for an aging loved one. That experience helped shape her belief that seniors should be treated as individuals first and that families deserve honest guidance rather than pressure to purchase unnecessary services.

After years of working for large healthcare organizations, Laurie recognized an opportunity to create something different. She wanted to build a company where healthcare expertise—not corporate priorities—could guide decisions about care. In 2023, she took a significant entrepreneurial leap and founded Seniornest Homecare.

The company reflects the values that Laurie has carried throughout her entire nursing career. Rather than approaching home care as simply a business transaction, she believes providers should listen carefully to families, understand their circumstances, and recommend services based on actual needs.

That philosophy is at the heart of Seniornest Homecare’s approach.

One of the company’s distinctive programs is its award-winning “Branches of Care” program, which connects specialized caregiver training and individualized care plans to each client’s diagnosis and specific needs. The program supports a range of circumstances, including but not limited to dementia care, post-acute recovery, and chronic illness management.

For Laurie, personalization is essential. No two families are identical, and no two care situations are exactly the same. The appropriate level of support should therefore be determined by the person receiving care—not by an effort to maximize the number of hours or services being sold.

This perspective comes from Laurie’s own experiences within the healthcare industry.

One of the biggest challenges she has witnessed is that many home care organizations are owned by investors and corporations rather than healthcare professionals. While those organizations may provide important services, Laurie believes the priorities of a nurse can be fundamentally different from those of someone focused primarily on business growth.

Throughout her career, Laurie has seen situations in which families were encouraged to purchase more care than they necessarily needed. If a client required eight hours of support per day, for example, she found herself questioning why there was pressure to recommend 12 hours or a live-in caregiver simply because it would generate more business.

Her philosophy is straightforward: families should receive the care they need, not the care that produces the largest sale. This is one reason Seniornest Homecare does not employ salespeople. The team is made up of RNs and clinicians.

This distinction is particularly important in New Jersey, where families frequently pay out of pocket for home care services. Laurie understands that families have financial limitations and believes those realities must be respected when developing a care plan.

Her commitment to advocacy is also deeply connected to the oath she took when she became a nurse.

Laurie considers one of her greatest achievements to be remaining grounded and continuing to honor that oath throughout her career. She views Seniornest Homecare not simply as a company but as an extension of her commitment to serve others and give back to the community she calls home.

That philosophy has helped Seniornest develop organically through relationships and referrals. For much of the company’s growth, Laurie operated without a traditional sales team. Instead, families, geriatric care managers, elder attorneys, facilities and others within the senior care community have referred clients based on their experiences with Seniornest.

For Laurie, those referrals represent something much more meaningful than business growth. They demonstrate trust.

One of the most rewarding moments, she says, is when a family member tells someone else, “I need to refer you to someone who took care of my mom.” Those personal recommendations have become an important part of Seniornest Homecare’s growth and have reinforced Laurie’s belief that doing the right thing ultimately creates its own momentum.

The company has also maintained a five-star rating on Google reviews, an achievement Laurie takes great pride in because she understands that maintaining such a reputation requires consistency, attentiveness, and genuine care.

Her leadership style is equally hands-on.

Laurie does not believe exceptional healthcare leadership can be practiced entirely from behind a desk. She remains personally involved with clients, visits families, and supports caregivers in the field. She also emphasizes accessibility, with same-day service availability and direct communication rather than forcing families to navigate an answering service when they need help.

That accessibility is especially important when families are dealing with uncertainty. A sudden hospitalization, a dementia diagnosis, a change in mobility, or a loved one’s return home following treatment can create enormous stress. Laurie believes families need someone who will listen, explain their options, and help them determine the appropriate next step.

Her commitment to seniors is supported by extensive education and professional credentials. Laurie earned her B.S.N. and R.N. from Felician University. She is a Registered Nurse, Certified Dementia Practitioner, and Certified Health Coach, and she maintains Basic Life Support certification for Healthcare and Public Safety.

Laurie is also a member of the Aging Life Care Association and the Alzheimer’s Association, reflecting her continued engagement with organizations connected to aging, dementia, and senior advocacy.

While her professional credentials demonstrate her expertise, Laurie’s instinct to care for others began long before she became a nurse or entrepreneur.

As a child, she was the person who wanted to help an injured bird in the yard. When a friend fell and scraped a leg while playing hopscotch, Laurie was the one running inside to find a bandage. That natural empathy has remained a defining characteristic throughout her life.

Even today, Laurie’s neighbors know that she is the person to call when someone needs help. Her role in the community has extended beyond her professional responsibilities, including responding when a neighbor experienced a cardiac emergency during a Superbowl party and when she performed CPR on a drowning victim.

For Laurie, these moments reinforce what she has always known about herself: caring for people is simply who she is.

That understanding also shapes the advice she offers to young women considering careers in nursing, senior care, or entrepreneurship.

Laurie believes nursing and caregiving must begin with a genuine desire to serve others. It is not, in her view, a field someone should enter simply for a paycheck. Healthcare can demand emotional energy, flexibility, and a willingness to respond when others need help—even at inconvenient hours.

Owning a home care business adds another layer of responsibility. Entrepreneurship requires perseverance, courage, and the willingness to take risks without knowing exactly how things will turn out.

Laurie understands that firsthand.

After her children graduated from college, she decided it was time to pursue her vision for a different kind of home care organization. She knew the risks associated with launching a business, but instead of allowing fear to prevent her from moving forward, she chose to give the opportunity everything she had.

That decision led to Seniornest Homecare.

Today, Laurie views the company as one of the most rewarding chapters of her long nursing career. Approaching another milestone birthday, she sees the work she is doing now as a culmination of decades of experience and a career spent discovering where her skills and passions could make the greatest difference.

Her message to other women considering entrepreneurship is equally direct: take chances and pursue your dreams. Failure may be possible, but so is success—and the only way to discover what is possible is to take the step.

For Laurie, success has never been measured solely by revenue, growth, or traditional business milestones. It is measured by the people who trust Seniornest Homecare with their loved ones, the families who feel supported during difficult moments, and the caregivers who know they have a leader who understands the realities of healthcare.

Above all, Laurie remains committed to the values that brought her into nursing in the first place: compassion, advocacy, integrity, and service.

She believes that when a business is built around genuinely doing the right thing, growth follows naturally. Her career demonstrates that principle in action—from the care for her grandmother through years of dementia to building a nurse-owned agency designed to give families a more personalized choice for home care.

Through Seniornest Homecare, Laurie Rittgers is proving that senior care can be both clinically informed and deeply human. By placing the needs of clients and families at the center of every decision, she continues to honor the nursing oath that has guided her for several decades while creating a lasting impact on the communities she serves.

Learn More about Laurie Rittgers:

Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/laurie-rittgers

Influential Women

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