Nurse Stories
Andrea Clark
Senior Vice President, Clinical Services
RN
With more than 30 years of experience, Andrea Clark has held a
number of clinical and operations positions in the long term care
industry over the years, from nurse supervisor and clinical
educator to director of nursing, executive director and director of
operations, to name a few. As such, she has a generated great
understanding of and respect for what it’s like to work at
different levels of the business. “What’s so cool about a nursing
education,” she explains, “is that my career eventually took a
curve into operations and management, and I became the executive
director for a 692 bed skilled nursing facility in Milwaukee. At
that time, I was responsible for 800 employees.”
Andrea quickly realized that working in management was her
niche. “The great thing for nurses is that you have those
opportunities to take different tracks,” she says. “You have that
in Golden Living, too. You can be purely clinical, but then you
have that wonderful capability to move into all facets of
operations.
Andrea has been with Golden Living and its predecessors for 10
years now, and for the past seven she has been the company’s Senior
Vice President of Clinical Services. She has a great passion for
Golden Living’s nurses and enjoys helping them blossom into the
roles that best suit their personalities and goals. She believes
that nurses who are attracted to working in skilled nursing
facilities have the compassion and clinical skills necessary to
care for acute and chronically ill patients.
“What’s so great about my job is that I’m able to look at my
responsibility for the approximately 7,500 nurses who work for
Golden Living and see myself as a role model, a mentor and a
leader. I work to make sure that they feel very proud of what they
do,” she says. “You have to have knowledge, integrity and
compassion to be a Golden Living Nurse. That’s what they’re all
about.
Andrea is also an advocate for education and believes in
encouraging nurses to further their education by returning to
school as well as obtaining specific clinical certifications.
Golden University provides an excellent CEU Course Catalog that
assists our nurses to educate themselves and to enhance their
skills. “Clinical education is an important aspect of what we
provide for our nurses to ensure quality care is provided to the
patients and residents we serve,” she says. Andrea's goal is for
every Golden Living Nurse to follow their passion, and to be proud
of what they do.