Joan Warden-Saunders has been removed as executive director of the National Association of Directors of Nursing/Long Term Care (NADONA) after a vote by elected board members.
The NADONA board also decided to release Warden-Saunders’ son Gary Warden, a part-time actor who oversaw several operations for the association.
The decisions became effective Oct. 18, said NADONA Board President Sherrie Dornberger, who announced the moves late Oct. 31 in a letter addressed to “colleagues.”
“The association wanted to move in different areas and changes were made in management,” Dornberger said, declining to elaborate further on circumstances surrounding the duo’s departure.
Efforts to contact either Warden-Saunders, who founded the organization 20 years ago in a bedroom office, or her son were unsuccessful as of press time.
NADONA Education Director Charlotte Eliopoulos, Ph.D., was named interim executive director and is expected to be a serious candidate to fill the post full-time.
“She has a lot of long-term care experience and is very visionary,” Dornberger said. “She thinks out of the box, which I think will be good for our organization.”
NADONA has 37 state chapters and a membership base of more than 7,000 DONs and RN nurse managers at skilled nursing and assisted living centers throughout the United States and Canada.
