Driving Change at Heather Glen Senior Living—Introducing Our New Executive Director, Andrea McGowan
Driving Change at Heather Glen Senior Living—Introducing Our New Executive Director, Andrea McGowan
May 25, 2023
At Heather Glen Senior Living, we are committed to providing our residents with a nurturing environment and the highest level of care possible. That’s why we are thrilled to introduce our new Executive Director, Andrea McGowan. With extensive experience in both nursing and administration, Andrea brings a fresh perspective to her role, ensuring that our community at Heather Glen Senior Living will thrive under her leadership. Her unwavering dedication to the well-being of our residents and her ability to navigate the complexities of the senior living industry makes her a valuable addition to our community.
Embracing a role in leadership
Before beginning her administrative journey, Andrea dedicated nearly 20 years to her nursing career. Her expertise spanned various healthcare disciplines, including pediatrics, long-term care, transitional trauma, acute care, home care and personal care. However, her unwavering affinity for geriatrics always brought her back to this specific field. While serving as the Director of Wellness at another personal care facility, Andrea embraced a new challenge when the management company underwent changes. She was asked to step into the open administrative position—and quickly recognized the opportunity she had to make a positive impact during this transition period.
“During changes of management—families, residents, staff—get very scared because they don’t know what’s coming, and they don’t know what to expect. I felt like it was my responsibility to keep everybody calm and do my own challenge and help smooth things over,” Andrea explained. “Once I was in it, I absolutely loved it. I still get to use my nursing foundation while managing overall operations. So you get to be creative, and your ideas are all finally rolled out where sometimes in different roles you have limitations with that. As an administrator, you can really change the environment from the culture of the community to the events and figure out how you want things to go.”
Andrea’s dedication to ensuring calmness and continuity amidst change fueled her passion for administration, and when the position for Executive Director was available at Heather Glen Senior Living, she knew that this would be the ideal next step for her.
A day in the life of an administrator
When asked to describe the typical tasks of an administrator, Andrea’s answer was simple—everything. From strategically managing the budget to meticulously planning community events and every task in between, she handles everything that comes her way with absolute expertise.
“Being an administrator is like having a continuously developing project, and I’m not the type of person that likes to stay complacent in what I do,” she explained. “I constantly need a challenge, and with being an administrator—there are moving targets all the time. You continuously have to develop new systems, change your goals and work as an entire team. One person is not going to make an imprint. It’s how the management team is developed to be able to run each department smoothly and more efficiently. There’s no room for boredom or redundancy in this job, and I like that. I’m really excited about this position, and I’m really happy to have been given the opportunity to do this because it is a really big role in a beautiful building with a great company.”
