Meet the Health Services Team

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Dr. Susan Zapalac, Medical Director

Dr. Zapalac is the Medical Director at Cate and co-chair of the Student Services Committee. She is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician and has worked in the field for over 20 years. She and her husband moved to Santa Barbara 20 years ago after finishing residency at LA County+USC. Dr. Zapalac is a mother of three children, and two dogs Scarlet and Arjen. In her free time she loves the outdoors–backpacking, hiking, skiing and walking on the beach. Dr. Zapalac appreciates how fragile life is and believes it’s important to work hard and play even harder.

Cara Terlep BSN RN, Associate Director of Health Services

Cara, or “Nurse Cara,” has been a nurse since 2010, and worked with babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and University of California San Diego before she came to Cate School. She thinks being a nurse is the best profession she could have ever chosen for herself. Cara loves to travel, backpack, camp, hike, bike, listen to music, garden, cook, and spend time with those in her community. She has lived in Carpinteria since 2018 with my stepdaughter Serena, and her partner Dylan. She also has two cats named Darwin and Stinks, and a dog named Captain. One of her goals in life is to see all of the US National Parks before she’s 50 years old. Cara feels that working with teenagers is incredibly rewarding, and loves working with the adolescent population.

Nikki Yamaoka BSN, RN Assistant Director of Health Services

Nikki, or more commonly known as “Nurse Nikki” began her career in health care by volunteering as a candy striper when she was only 15 years old. Since that time, she has over 30 years of experience in various areas of patient care (diet aide, nursing assistant, medical technician, Pediatric Med/Surg RN, Pediatric Oncology, School Nurse, and Assistant Director of Nursing at Cate School (best job ever)! She and her husband Brian have two children, Griffin and Ian. They enjoy weekend getaways to Big Bear and Disney Cruises. Nikki is an active member of several volunteer organizations for Carpinteria schools. Inclusion and equal opportunity for learning is something Nikki is very passionate about.

Sunny Rich, Registered Nurse

Sunny, or better known as “Nurse Sunny” to the Cate students, always truly wants to know “How are you? Are you eating, sleeping well? Are you making time to have some fun?” Sunny loves to go dancing, and see live performances especially for music and stand-up comedy. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, reading, trying new restaurants, being outdoors and traveling. Sunny was a stay-at-home mom for 18 years before graduating from nursing school in 2012. After she graduated, she went directly into school nursing so she could have the same schedule as her girls. She is a mom to 4 lovely daughters who actually like her (she thinks!) so a lot of fun times are spent with them.

Summer Clark, Registered Nurse

Meet Nurse Summer! She loves being a nurse and enjoys surrounding herself with students who are learning and pursuing their dreams. She enjoys spontaneous adventures. Some of her endeavors include skydiving, hiking in Yosemite, climbing Half Dome, snow skiing, and white water river rafting down the Arkansas river in Colorado. For fun, she likes exploring different cultures and has traveled to Canada, Italy, France, Greece, and Spain. In her spare time I also enjoy rollerblading, kayaking, barre, yoga, Zumba, tennis, and going on beach walks with her friends. She loves spending quality time with her nieces and nephews. Summer speaks Spanish, and is a self-proclaimed foodie! She would love to hear about your favorite place you have explored and/or a favorite entrée you would recommend anytime you come by the Health Center.

Taylor Carson, Registered Nurse

Taylor graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Biopsychology. Before her journey into nursing, she worked as a Research Coordinator for Sansum Diabetes Center, where she worked with pharmaceutical and medical devices. Her passion for helping others motivated her to continue her education and graduate with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from CSU Channel Islands. She has worked as a nurse at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara for the last 4 years. All of her collective experiences have taught her about the transforming power of the ‘little things’ like respect, attentiveness, and the power of a simple conversation. In fact, these ‘little’ things are the critical component of quality healthcare. In her free time, Taylor enjoys spending her time in the desert of Utah, where you can either catch her hiking up canyons or riding her mountain bike down some mountains. She believes her role as a nurse most directly aligns with how she envisions treating people- doing the little things, never stopping the process of learning and always continuing to show empathy.

Eric Luthard, Registered Nurse

Eric comes to Cate School with extensive experience in emergency and pre-hospital care. He worked as a 9-1-1 paramedic for many years, then as an Emergency Room registered nurse. Most recently, Eric worked as a helicopter flight nurse, where her still works part-time when not working at Cate. Eric is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He has three children. His mother and grandparents spent many summers here in Carpinteria when her was young, and her took his children here often as they were growing up. He is now lucky enough to live in Carpinteria.

Sarah Falat, Registered Nurse

This is Nurse Sarah! She has been a nurse for over 20 years. Her nursing specialty for most of those years was in Surgery. She worked in the Operating Room and in the PACU (post anesthesia care unit) at a few local hospitals. She is intrigued by all aspects of surgery. Her husband is a Fire Captain and together they have two beautiful teen daughters. The baby of the family is their Boston Terrier, Buster. He is the sweetest, loudest snoring dog you will ever meet. Sarah loves to be outdoors, hiking in the local mountains, or her favorite area… the Eastern Sierras. Traveling and making memories with her family are her favorite moments. She believes life is better with music. Sarah worked at a music store in high school and went to many concerts…best job ever! A few of her all-time favorites are Snoop DoGG, Tool and recently Ryan Bingham. Sarah is happy to be part of Cate School!

Blake Yoder, Registered Nurse

Nurse Blake has worked in several areas of medicine including pre-hospital care, emergency care, and intensive care. He is excited to be part of preventative and non-acute care here at Cate! In his off time, he loves being in the sun, going to the gym, playing spikeball, golfing, camping and is generally up to do anything outdoors. He has also been known to snowboard, surf, play drums, do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and play pickleball from time to time. Blake does, however, also enjoy a mellow evening of playing video games and eating some delicious, home-cooked BBQ. If you see Nurse Blake, tell him who your favorite Star Wars character is and why it’s Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Chris Woo, Medical Assistant

Chris is a recent graduate from UCSB, where her majored in Cellular and Developmental Biology, and was an Athletic Training Intern. Chris originally grew up on Oahu in Hawaii, but moved to the Bay area when her was 13! Chris is currently pursuing a career in medicine, and am taking a few gap years before applying to medical school. In his free time, he watches likes watching the newest and greatest TV shows, but likes to balance it out with weightlifting and long beach walks with his dog, Moku! Chris also enjoy thrifting, and taking day trips with friends to LA. Chris is very excited to be on the Cate Health Team as a Medical Assistant, and can’t wait to get to know everyone better!

Margaret Coyne, Medical Assistant

Margaret was born and raised in Santa Barbara. She has been working as a Medical Assistant since 2015, and she I loves it. Before working at Cate School, she assisted with plastic surgery at a local dermatology office. Margaret has two boys, Eli and Orion. Their family has lots of pets: one dog, two guinea pigs, birds, fish and frogs. Margaret loves to be out in nature, in the mountains or at the beach- it’s where she feel most content!