Our Staff at BrightStar Care® Rio Grande Valley

Patricia A. Castillo was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley and has been employed at Brightstar Care for 7 ½ years, opened our RGV location.   She started he career with Brightstar Care at the Rio Grande Valley location, began with a position in Office Administration and quickly promoted to Branch Manager.  Patricia’s background is in healthcare and operation after owning and operating her own business for over 10 years.  She now has the honor of managing the daily operations of the RGV office, making sure that we provide consistently outstanding service for our clients.  Patricia enjoys the fast pace of this business along with having the opportunity to work alongside our outstanding clinicians.  Patricia believes in our company’s CORE values and strives to provide the Best Patient Care possible for our clients.

Veronica Tamez was born and raised in Laredo, TX and has been employed at BrightStar Care for 6 years. She started as an Intake Specialist and within a week she was promoted to the Therapy department. With only 5 months in the therapy department she surpassed expectations and was asked to assist in the opening of our San Antonio branch. Thereafter, Veronica was promoted to Human Resources Specialist and joined the leadership team. Veronica applies expert knowledge, industry experience,and relentless energy to solving our company’s issues. Within 5 years, Veronica became Branch Manager at BrightStar Care of Laredo and the Alternate Administrator for PW Health Services, assisting the company in achieving success with Clients and Clinicians. With more than 6 years of experience and the completion of hundreds of projects, Veronica has the ability to work effectively, listen to ideas, and help implement the changes necessary for successful completion of a project. After a successful career in Home Health Care, Veronica now coaches and trains other people to achieve the same success.

Maritza R. Lopez is originally from Zapata, Texas but has been a native to the Laredo, Texas area for the past six years. Maritza began her nursing career at the Laredo Medical Center Labor and Delivery Unit immediately after obtaining her Associate Degree in Nursing and Texas Board of Nursing License. She then decided to broaden her area of nursing by taking on a part time position working as a field nurse for a local home health agency. After six months, she grew to love the field and the opportunity to provide care to patients in need throughout the community. She was then presented with the opportunity for a full time RN case manager position at BrightStar Care of Laredo. Through her first year of working as an RN case manager her drive, motivation, dedication and willingness to learn new aspects of nursing care lead to a gain in immense knowledge and experience leading to her promotion to Assistant Director of Nursing. After only three months, she was promoted once again to Director of Nursing and has continued to work on a daily basis serving the population in need of home health care. She is a dedicated and hardworking individual, with willingness to obtain new skills and practices in the clinical setting. She is caring, compassionate and committed to working with a variety of health care populations to provide safe, efficient, quality care. She is a flexible team member, with strong interpersonal skills and the ability to adapt to change and is always prepared to go the extra mile for any patient. She strongly believes that with faith, hard work, dedication, determination, motivation and belief in oneself we can overcome any obstacle and we can achieve the impossible.

Amelia M. Gonzales was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley and has been employed with BrightStar Care for five years. She started off as a field employee in our Private Duty Nursing department and transitioned to Case Management.
Amelia M. Gonzales, RN, BSN, started her education at South Texas College where she received her License as a Vocational Nurse in August 2012. She then decided to continue her education and graduated with her Associates in Nursing in December 2013. She then earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas A & M College Station in May 2017.  She has seven years of nursing experience and is going on three years supervising our Private Duty Nursing Department.
Amelia is one of a kind and has a heart of gold. She is willing to lend a helping hand when needed. She strives for excellence and advocates for her patient’s and nurse’s. She lives by “Let all that you do be done with love. -1 Corinthians 16:14”

Leticia was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, she started her nursing career as an ER nurse at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance immediately after obtaining her Associates degree in Nursing and Texas Board of Nursing License. She then began to work as a contract field nurse with Brightstar Care, transitioning into Full Time with them in 2017. She is caring, compassionate, and is committed to providing her best skill set, and quality care for her patients.  Her interpersonal and hardworking skills make her a great team player, she is adaptable to any changes made, making her an asset to the Brightstar Care Team. She takes pride in her faith and family alongside with providing the best practices for her patients.

Veronica Anaya, OTR, has been an Occupational Therapist since 2001.  She has enjoyed working in a variety of settings including:  outpatient pediatric, outpatient hand therapy, adult home health and pediatric home health.   In these settings, she had the opportunity to gain a great deal of experience with a variety of patients ranging from premature newborns to the elderly.  Working with such a wide range in patient population has also led to knowledge and experience working with a diverse variety of diagnoses.  These include but are not limited to:  prematurity, global developmental delay, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Down’s Syndrome, Cognitive Delays, genetic chromosomal deficits, lymphedema, upper extremity orthopedic conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff injuries, and strokes.   Personally, Veronica is a mother of four beautiful and rambunctious children, and she is married to her husband of fourteen years who is also an occupational therapist.  Professionally, Veronica believes using education, empathy and therapeutic use of self is a keystone in helping patients regain or attain their maximum potential!  She currently enjoys being part of a diverse and comprehensive team at BrightStar Care- RGV!    

Lalin is a graduate of Doctor of Physical Therapy in Utica College, NY with over 7 years of practice as a physical therapist. She is an advocate of evidence-based physical therapy and specializes in orthopedic and neurologic conditions. She is an expert for special cases requiring canalinth repositioning treatment, lymphedema management, and sports related conditions. She is currently working in her specialization in Geriatric Physical therapy and is writing a book entitled “Beyond Borders”. She is passionate about her profession, aiming for excellence, and she makes sure nobody is left behind around the valley.