Barbara E. Quealy, RN, MBA, has joined Gifford Medical Center’s senior leadership team as Chief Operating Officer (COO). She will lead Gifford’s hospital-based operations and report directly to Administrator Joseph Woodin.
“We are very happy to have Barbara join our Gifford team,” said Woodin. “Because of her early experiences as an RN, and in key leadership positions in small critical access hospitals, she understands how important collaboration and communication is to delivering quality patient care.”
Quealy was most recently vice president of Physician and Ancillary Services at the Huggins Hospital in Wolfboro, NH, where she oversaw the operations of the primary care and specialty practices, medical imaging, cardiopulmonary, laboratory, and rehabilitation departments. Previously she was vice-president of Physician Services at Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, NH.
A Boston native, she began working as a candy-striper when she was fourteen, worked as a nurses’ aide through high school and college, and worked for 10 years as an RN in intensive care, cardiac care, and cardiac rehab units before moving into hospital administration. Quealy says she was attracted to Gifford’s commitment to community and strong financial performance, and because she could be an administrator and still interact with patients and their families.
“I began my career in nursing and learned early on the importance of these relationships. Because of this I’m able to bring the patient care conversation to the highest levels of an organization,” she said. ´“At Gifford I’ve been especially impressed by the attention to patient care, and the team work and collaboration I see in all areas of the organization.”
Quealy recently served as vice president of the NH Medical Group Management Association. She received a Masters of Business Administration at Franklin Pierce University, an Associates of Science in Nursing at North Shore Community College, and a Bachelor of Arts at Boston College.
Her new position at Gifford brings her closer to family (one of her two grown sons lives in St. Albans, VT), and she says she immediately felt comfortable here. She and her husband have already purchased land in Randolph, where they are building a home.
