After 20 years spent working in hospitals, Gayle Mattson knows how to take care of people. While she’s held various roles throughout her career, Mattson still considers herself a nurse first. She started as a hospital nurse in Minneapolis in 1983 before she transitioned over to hospice work. It was the holistic approach to medicine that resonated with her.
Mattson naturally transitioned into the management side of healthcare, where she thought she would have a greater impact. She’s held many positions – from staff nurse to chief operating officer – but none have been more fulfilling than her hospice work. As Mattson puts it, “Hospitals are great places, but my heart was in hospice.”
Until recently, she worked in Sunnyvale, California, as chief operating officer at a local hospice. However, her husband and youngest son remained in Minnesota during that time because they did not envision California as the place for their family. There were no reservations about moving the family to Gainesville — when Mattson got the call about the possibility of moving here, her husband said that he “absolutely would,” she remembers.
With the backing of her family and the exciting opportunity at Haven, Mattson accepted the position of president for Haven Hospice, which has grown from its humble beginnings in 1979 to now serving more than 700 patients daily throughout 19 counties in Florida.
What drew you to Haven Hospice?
I was attracted to Haven because of its mission. It is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organization with a very motivated leadership team, so that felt like a good fit for me. The mission is very much aligned with doing whatever it takes, which fits in with my personal belief system and passion.
Where does that passion come from?
I’ve seen what a profound impact that teams — such as hospice teams — can have on supporting patients and families through a very difficult time. Everybody should be offered that level of support. That’s what we’re here for, and our community deserves that.
What are some things that have been done well that you hope to continue?
I already mentioned the strong mission focus of the organization. That is first and foremost.
Number two and number three are the amazing staff and amazing volunteers. We have in excess of 500 associates that are employees and a similar number of volunteers. Healthcare is very people-intensive. My job is to make sure we continue to have the very best staff and volunteers that we can possibly find, because it’s what our patients and families deserve.
Haven does a great job at providing hospice care in a very vast geography, because we cover 19 counties. I think we do rural hospice care extremely well.
What’s special about the Gainesville community in relation to Haven Hospice?
Our local leaders and staff take great care to really customize the care, service and personality of Haven to fit the individual cultures and things that are most important in the local community.
As a newcomer to Gainesville, my family and I really love the community. People are warm and friendly; there is a very friendly, personable, welcoming culture. The community has a lot to offer.
Haven has been serving this community in excess of 35 years. It has a very collaborative spirit in terms of working with other groups and leaders to make sure that we’re continuing to evolve to serve the evolving and growing needs of Gainesville.
Is there anything new you hope to bring to the table?
I mentioned that we serve most of the individuals and their families in their home, but not everybody can be at home all the time, and sometimes people have acute needs.
We’re in the midst of a $10.5 million expansion of the E.T. York Care Center. One of the things I hope to do is make sure that we fully utilize this expanded care center to serve the residents of the Gainesville community – that people know about it and can take advantage of it.
Secondly, expanding access to supporting patients and families that have advanced illness. The top two comments we hear from patients and families are, number one, “You guys are amazing,” and number two, “We so wish we would’ve heard about you sooner.” That’s heartbreaking. It’s frustrating when we end up being the “too-little, too-late” model, so I really want to focus on providing broader support and access.
RAMÓN PEÑA is a fourth-year journalism major at the University of Florida. He hopes to become rich and be able to retire before his thirtieth birthday. In the meantime, he’s content speaking a mixture of English, Spanish, and French, trying to kick-start his internet fame and being a full-time journalist on the side.