Haines Assisted Living welcomed Stephanie Pattison back to Haines as the new nurse administrator last month.
After restructuring HAL staff, board member Jim Studley said the relatively new position includes duties like overseeing staff, general care of the residents and daily administrative work.
Pattison moved to Haines in 1985 with her husband, Scott, who worked as a commercial fisherman. The couple lived in Haines for nearly 20 years, and Pattison owned and operated a daycare in the community before she and her husband moved to Arizona.
Pattison said that was the right time to fulfill a lifelong dream of going to nursing school. “I’ve wanted to be a nurse since I was 8 years old,” Pattison said.
She graduated from nursing school at Mohave Community College in Lake Havasu, Ariz. in 2005.
The couple has lived the last five years in Kotzebue, Alaska, where Pattison worked as the Sexual Assault Response Team program manager. She was the only certified sexual assault nurse examiner.
Although she said she loved her job, it was ultimately the right time to move on.
“We hadn’t planned on leaving Kotzebue, but the draw of coming home was just too strong,” Pattison said.
All three of Pattison’s children, Rachel, Darren and Derek; live in Haines, along with her first grandchild. It is the first time since 2004 that her family has lived in the same community, Pattison said.
“I am so excited about this opportunity,” Pattison said.