“In my immediate family, all of the women work in long-term care. All three of us, as well as my younger sister, who works as a senior operations manager for Cambridge Corporation in Southern California, are with different companies now. We are loving what we do! Our mom [center] is an inspiration for all three of us.”

— Aimee Pastore (daughter, right), Executive Director of Finance for Community Services, PruittHealth Corporation, Norcross, GA

“I started as a CNA and I did everything. This was 1981. I love my patients and I like to take care of them. I wanted to have a real purpose. Then we got our mom into it.”

— Lori Marsden (daughter, left), Vice President of Operations, HMS, La Verne, CA

“I started as a temporary business office manager and was hired after someone on maternity leave didn’t come back. I worked there for 20 years.”

— Merrilee Taylor (mother, center), retired business officer manager from Beverly Enterprises, Norcross, GA

“After 32 years as a licensed nurse, it’s still true that you want the best for the residents. Everyone you talk to could be your mom or your grandmother.”

— Johnnie Richardson, Regional Director of Operations, Advanced Healthcare Solutions, Arlington, TX

“My grandmother was an executive director for a program in the ’80s in Chicago that helped low-income youth. I would go there and help her. I learned at an early age about the importance of community work and the need for education.”

— LeAndra Peters, Resident Services Coordinator, Paul G. Stewart Center, Chicago

“My mother made me go work at a nursing home, Crestview Lutheran Homes, when I was 17, and I’ve been in the business ever since. She was a nursing assistant and introduced me to everyone. I think I was the first male to work in the kitchen.”

— Jim Bettendorf, President and CEO, Vista Prairie Communities, Hopkins, MN

“By watching my parents age, it’s made it more personal. They’re still at home, at ages 86 and 88. He’s a veteran and on a home-based program, so I’ve taken what I’ve learned from that as it relates to long-term care.”

— Sharla McDaniel, Dir. of HR, The Village at Manor Park, Midland, TX

From the December 01, 2017 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News