While medicine continually evolves, nursing at its core has always been about patient care.
“Nurses are involved in health care in so many ways,” said Santa Barbara registered nurse Carolyn Aijian. “Many folks are unaware of the influences we have in the community. From birth to death, nurses are there.”
Aijian has been a part of those life stages for people while also taking part in medicine’s continual changes during her 50-year career.
50 years of care
Aijian started working as a nurse in the neurosurgical and chest unit of a Pasadena hospital in the 1970s.
“All the nurses wore white dresses and freshly starched caps,” she said. “I even sported the classic navy blue cape when heading to work on a cold day.”
Registered nurses had a black stripe on their caps and, in Aijian’s unit, worked with licensed vocational nurses on everything from procedures to baths.
“There was a lot of pride in making a proper bed,” she said. “I remember a doctor coming into a patient room as I was finishing up a crisp, tightly made bed. He whipped out a quarter and bounced it on the sheet to see if it was tightly made. It bounced.”
Patients had to travel offsite for CT scans, a new technology in the 1970s — MRI machines came later, in the 1980s. When she was promoted to assistant head nurse, Aijian created schedules and ensured doctors’ orders were implemented.
“Everything was on paper charts, and we became experts on reading handwriting of the worst kind,” she said.
“While in that position, our hospital became one of the first to implement a computerized charting system. Gone were the days of blue pens for day shift, green pens for evening shift, and red for night shift. All documentation began to be recorded on a clunky 1970s computer.”
Later, as an IV nurse, Aijian added a blue coat to her white uniform and would start intravenous lines.
“IV complete nutrition was brand new,” she said.
After marrying a doctor in 1978, leading to “a lifetime of discussing interesting diseases and conditions each night at dinner,” Aijian started working in an oncologist’s office.
“I learned chemotherapy protocols and drew up the many cocktails of treatments, learning the different protocols for different types of cancer,” she said. “I also helped with documentation for research on new medications that were being studied.”
Aijian and her husband then moved to Santa Barbara to set up his practice.
“In those days, medical offices had paper charts and ledger cards,” she said. “We took a medical business and learned everything else with classes as we went.”
After having children, Aijian worked at a skilled nursing facility and did short international missions.
“I have hiked bush trails through the jungle to help deliver a baby, pulled rotten teeth in Mexico and Africa, and taught basic sex education in Zambia,” she said.
“I have dressed many wounds and taught basic health to tribal peoples. Transportation has been tiny bush planes, helicopters, canoes, and by foot. I have climbed an erupting volcano and trekked through jungles and rivers.”
Then, 24 years ago, Aijian pivoted to working as a home care nurse. That led to starting a business, now called Complete Care at Home where, as executive director, she oversees three offices and over 120 employees.
Throughout her career, Aijian has always enjoyed helping people.
“I especially enjoy figuring out why a person might be chronically ill and helping navigate health care to provide solutions,” she said.
Carolyn Aijian’s extraordinary journey through five decades of nursing is a testament to the enduring spirit of compassionate care. From bustling hospital wards to remote villages and into the intimate setting of people’s homes, her mission has remained constant: to heal, comfort, and guide.
Today, that mission lives on through Complete Care at Home, the company she founded to deliver personalized, high-quality home health services.
With a dedicated team and a deep understanding of patient needs, Complete Care at Home continues Aijian’s legacy—bringing expert, heartfelt care directly to where it matters most.
To learn more about their services or to explore how they can support your family’s home care needs, visit completecareathome.com.
