From Mom to Mentor

Rebec­ca Mot­ley, a nurse at Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) for 25 years, and her daugh­ter LeighAn­na Hill, who has been with QMG since 2001, share a spe­cial bond — not just one of fam­i­ly, but of a call­ing to care for oth­ers. Both work at our QMG Pitts­field Clinic.

For Mot­ley, the jour­ney to nurs­ing began not in a class­room, but at home. After years of being a stay-at-home mom to her two girls, she was inspired to become a pedi­atric nurse.

“Car­ing for my daugh­ters showed me the impact of com­pas­sion­ate care, and as they grew more inde­pen­dent, I saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty to extend that care to oth­er chil­dren,” she said. ​“Return­ing to school was chal­leng­ing, but my expe­ri­ences as a moth­er equipped me for pedi­atric nurs­ing, mak­ing it a nat­ur­al pro­gres­sion to help more chil­dren and their families.”

Wit­ness­ing her moth­er car­ry out her pas­sion, Hill was inspired to become a nurse her­self. This shared path has fos­tered a unique under­stand­ing between them of the joys and chal­lenges inher­ent to the nurs­ing profession.

“From a young age, I have admired my mom’s ded­i­ca­tion to help­ing oth­ers. Through watch­ing her grow in her career, it was a nat­ur­al pro­gres­sion to fol­low in her foot­steps,” Hill said.

Mot­ley beams with pride at her daughter’s suc­cess. Watch­ing her not only fol­low in her foot­steps but also carve her own path fills Mot­ley with immense pride.

“Her intel­li­gence shines through every day. What tru­ly amazes me is how skill­ful­ly she han­dles her busy sched­ule at the clin­ic. She jug­gles mul­ti­ple respon­si­bil­i­ties, from patient care to admin­is­tra­tive tasks, with such grace and effi­cien­cy,” Mot­ley shared. ​“Her abil­i­ty to main­tain com­po­sure and pri­or­i­tize under pres­sure not only makes her an out­stand­ing nurse but also deeply inspires me.”

Hill said the most inspir­ing aspect of her mother’s work is the gen­uine con­nec­tion she forms with patients. Every day she sees first­hand the impact she has on others.

“My moth­er taught me the impor­tance of com­pas­sion in nurs­ing. She empha­sized the sig­nif­i­cance of tru­ly under­stand­ing patients’ needs and treat­ing them with kind­ness and respect. This les­son has been invalu­able in build­ing trust­ing rela­tion­ships with patients and pro­vid­ing care,” Hill shared.

Beyond pro­fes­sion­al growth, Mot­ley also impart­ed valu­able life lessons. Those lessons have made Hill a stronger nurse and person.

“Per­son­al­ly, my moth­er taught me resilience and per­se­ver­ance. Nurs­ing can be emo­tion­al­ly and phys­i­cal­ly demand­ing, but she showed me how to stay strong in the face of chal­lenges and nev­er give up on pro­vid­ing the best pos­si­ble care. Her exam­ple has taught me to approach obsta­cles with deter­mi­na­tion and grace,” she said.

At the heart of it all, for both Mot­ley and Hill, lies the love for their cho­sen pro­fes­sion and the patients they’re hon­ored to care for each day.

“What I love most about being a pedi­atric nurse is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to build trust­ing rela­tion­ships with my patients/​parents. Lis­ten­ing to their con­cerns and sup­port­ing them through allows me to pro­vide per­son­al­ized and com­pas­sion­ate care. These con­nec­tions are tru­ly at the heart of why I cher­ish work­ing as a nurse,” she said.

Hill echoes this sen­ti­ment, acknowl­edg­ing the chal­lenges yet find­ing deep ful­fill­ment in know­ing she makes a difference.

“Being a nurse is unde­ni­ably chal­leng­ing, but despite the dif­fi­cul­ties, I love being a nurse,” she said. ​“There’s a pro­found sense of pur­pose that comes from know­ing I’m mak­ing a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in people’s lives. Even on the tough days, the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide care and sup­port to those in need brings me immense sat­is­fac­tion and fulfillment.”