Meet Our Hospice Care Team
Our interdisciplinary care team is made up of many different specialties and backgrounds, but they all share a common commitment to patient well-being, professional integrity, and education. The nurses and CNAs at Hospice of the Fisher Home are some of the most highly trained, highly skilled in Western Massachusetts. Our experience ranges from nursing, care planning, social work, bereavement counseling, spiritual support, and more. Above all else, hospice caregivers and staff members are dedicated to providing meaningful and compassionate end-of-life care for you or your loved one.
Learn more about what sets our hospice care team apart, and see some of the faces behind the Fisher
Home in the profiles below.
Maria Rivera, BSN, RN
Executive Director
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Maria Rivera graduated from Greenfield Community College in 2010 with an associates in nursing. She received her RN license and eventually graduated from Elms College with a bachelor's in nursing. She has been committed to the Hospice of the Fisher Home since 2011 and has held many positions here including Clinical Director and, most recently, Executive Director starting in 2020. Hospice is truly her passion.
Jeffrey Zesiger, MD
Medical Director
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Jeffrey Zesiger MD has worked as an Internist and then a Hospice medical director and palliative care specialist in Northampton since 1996. For the past four years he has worked on the palliative care team at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield MA. He is delighted to now be the hospice medical director at the Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst MA.
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Kathy Curtis, BSN, RN, CHPN
Director of Compliance
Katherine Curtis graduated from Worcester State College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. She began her career as an RN in the Oncology Unit at Deaconess Hospital in Boston. She then moved on to pursue her interest in Hospice as a Patient Care Manager and the founder of the Prisms program providing Hospice services to children at VNA and Hospice of Central MA for 10 years and then was the Clinical Director at Noble VNA and Hospice for 10 years. She joined HOFH in 2008 as Clinical Director. She is now enjoying her position as Director of Quality and Compliance.
Melissa Bristol, MHA
Director of Operations
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Melissa Bristol received her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Melissa recently received her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Suffolk University. She started at the Fisher Home as a volunteer in 2017 and quickly fell in love with the culture and the mission. She took a position in 2018 as Administrative Assistant and advanced to become Director of Operations, a position she has held since 2021.
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