The Area Agency on Aging of Palm Beach/Treasure Coast, Inc. has chosen Dwight D. Chenette, a man with a passion to the mission of caring for people, augmented with leadership skills, financial acumen and an understanding of programming necessary to promote independence, dignity and wellbeing of seniors and adults with disabilities.

With a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Master of Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Hartford, Chenette is an executive with significant experience in non-profit management and a dedication to supporting healthy communities. He served for 17 years at the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, ten of those years as its CEO. For the last eight years Chenette served as president for a HMO serving Medicaid.


Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nathan H. Walcker to the Executive Leadership Team as Chief Financial Officer.

Walcker brings over a decade of diverse healthcare industry experience and finance expertise to FCS, most recently serving as an integral member of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s healthcare investment banking group, where he was responsible for advising leading healthcare companies on mergers, acquisitions, and capital structure strategies.
 
Walcker earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Columbia University.


Kathleen Coronado Promoted to Associate General Manager in Broward County

Kathleen Coronado, RN, joined VITAS® Healthcare in 2006 as a home care nurse in Broward County. She attributes her successful career trajectory at VITAS to the support and guidance of her leadership team, hard work and desire to bring the best care to VITAS patients and families. During her career at VITAS, Coronado rose through the ranks from nurse to team manager, then IPU manager and prior to her promotion, as patient care administrator.
 
Before joining VITAS, Coronado worked as an RN in critical care and emergency department settings at various Broward hospitals like Memorial Hospital West, Kindred Hospital Hollywood, Westside Regional Medical Center and North Shore Medical Center in Miami. She is an alumna of Broward College and Chamberlain University.
 
Annette Requena Promoted to Associate General Manager in Miami-Dade and Monroe
Annette Requena, BSN, joined VITAS® Healthcare in 2007 as a home care nurse and was promoted to home care team manager in 2011. In 2014 she served as inpatient team manager and was promoted again to patient care administrator in 2016.
 
Prior to VITAS, Requena worked as a registered nurse at Baptist Hospital in the neurology, medical-surgical and telemetry unit where she worked closely with patients, physicians, therapists and social services. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
 
Erika Gaudio Promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales
Erika Gaudio provides leadership and execution to VITAS® Healthcare’s nationwide sales organization and enhances the elevation of VITAS’ educational approach and marketing collaterals. She joined VITAS® Healthcare in 2009 as a representative in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was promoted the following year to director of market development. She transferred in the same role to Broward County and was promoted to senior then regional director of market development in the following years. In 2016, Gaudio assumed responsibility for the sales training function and was promoted to VP of Sales.
 
Gaudio is a licensed Assisted Living Facility Administrator in the state of Florida. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and master’s degree in organizational studies and leadership from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
 
Julio Rodriguez-Simon Promoted to Senior Vice President of Software Engineering and Senior Data Officer
In 2017, Julio Rodriguez-Simon joined VITAS® Healthcare as VP of Business Intelligence and Senior Data Officer. Since joining the IT team, his responsibilities doubled when he began managing all development activity for VITAS. His leadership, drive and dedication have attracted top technologists to the VITAS IT team, securing the delivery of the most advanced data warehouse in healthcare.
 
Rodriguez-Simon had a track record for delivery prior to joining VITAS, serving as director for global technical support for Citrix, and as senior director of analytics for Anda, Inc., one of South Florida’s leading pharmacy distribution companies. He earned a master’s degree in Physics, specializing in Microelectronics, from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain.
 
Emily Hill Promoted to Vice President of Strategy and Analytics
Emily Hill leads the effort to transform the way VITAS® Healthcare uses technology and data. In 2014, she joined VITAS as an internal management consultant and was later promoted to centralized intake and billing administrator for palliative care, and then to director roles in revenue cycle and innovation and strategy. Prior to joining VITAS, she collaborated with the University of Miami Health System’s (U-Health) process improvement teams and served as director of volunteers for a hospice provider in Miami.
 
Hill earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Yale University and a master’s degree in Psychology from the Southern Connecticut State University, both located in New Haven, Connecticut. Additionally, she earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami in Coral Gables.
 
 


Southwest Florida parents can rest easy knowing their infants are sleeping well at three Lee Health Certified Safe Sleep Champion hospitals.

Cape Coral Hospital, Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida and HealthPark Medical Center recently earned the highest possible gold-level certification from the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program for their commitment to best practices and education on infant safe sleep. The hospitals are three of ten in Florida to earn gold certification.
 
“Nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of our pediatric patients and this certification reinforces our commitment to creating a zero harm environment in our hospitals,” said Scott Kashman, chief officer, hospital operations at Lee Health.


Barry Gallison, corporate director of clinical quality and risk management at Broward Health, has been appointed president of the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA). Prior to being named AHNA president, he served on the organization’s board of directors as treasurer for two terms.

Gallison is a certified holistic nurse leader with more than 25 years of experience in clinical and nursing operations, quality management and performance improvement. In addition to his role at Broward Health, Gallison also holds a faculty advisor position at the Birch Tree Center for Healthcare Transformation, where he advises in the Integrative Healing Arts Program, and is a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Holistic Nursing. He is on the Advisory Board for the Advanced Holistic Nursing Master’s Degree at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University.
 
Gallison graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1995 from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. After graduating, he relocated to New York Presbyterian Hospital to begin his holistic nursing career as a senior staff nurse on a vascular surgical floor. His subsequent roles at New York Presbyterian Hospital included geriatric nurse practitioner, patient care director and director of nursing quality and improvement initiatives. Gallison later received his Doctor of Nursing Practice from Stony Brook University, where he completed his research on acute care nurses spiritual care practices.