Great Barrington, Mass. — Family Nurse Practitioner Rita M. Willey joined the clinical care team at Community Health Programs Lee Family Practice.

 

Willey has practiced since 2012 at Fairview Medical in Great Barrington. She previously worked at Northern Berkshire Family Medicine. 

 

Earlier, as a registered nurse, she worked at both Fairview Hospital and Berkshire Medical Center in supervisory positions.  She was appointed as a faculty member with the Yale School of Nursing in 2018 and continues to precept master's degree nursing students there.

 

Willey earned her doctorate of nursing and her master's degree in family nurse practitioner from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She holds her master's in business administration, with a concentration in health care management, from Western New England College. She earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from UMass and completed her associate degree in nursing at Berkshire Community College.

 

Willey is a member of the American Nurses Credentialing Center and has served as a member of the Massachusetts Organization for Nurse Executives as well as Sigma Theta Tau International, the honor society for nursing.

 

She has also published two papers regarding management of heart failure in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing and in Scholarworks, a UMass publication.

 

A resident of Lenox, she volunteered with the Berkshire County Military Family Support Group, a program of the American Red Cross, during the Iraq War from 2003-2010.  For 26 years she has been an active volunteer member with the National Ski Patrol and holds certification in outdoor emergency care.