As Wellness Manager for The Woodlands, Rebecca Goff’s focus is working with residents and their families to make sure their needs are met. While this seems like a very broad job description, Rebecca says, for her, it’s the perfect fit.
With a background in hotel management, homeschooling, sonography and as a Licensed Nursing Assistant, Rebecca uses a unique range of skills to excel at both the clinical and human sides of her job. She joined The Woodlands a year and a half ago to implement the community’s new wellness program, she said, but then the pandemic hit.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has since suspended many of The Woodlands’ activities and programs. However, once on the other side of the pandemic, Rebecca said she looks forward to implementing a more formal wellness program for The Woodlands involving assessing, tracking and finding solutions to help residents achieve their maximum potential in six dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, environmental, social, intellectual and spiritual.
With that original plan temporarily on hiatus, Rebecca said she has been mainly focused on assessing residents’ wellness through relationship-building with residents and their families, which includes making sure they don’t become socially isolated during COVID.
“I’ve felt that the most important part of my job has been to build relationships with the residents so I can gauge a person’s wellness and recognize areas that need attention,” she said, “and, to communicate with family members as needs arise.”
Rebecca lives with her husband in Hanover, and they have four adult sons, whom she homeschooled. She has a bachelor’s degree in business, specializing in hospitality and worked in hotel management for several years before earning a second degree in theology and philosophy.
More recently, she obtained a license as an LNA. She then worked at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in surgery recovery while she went back to school to renew her science education. Courses such as anatomy and physiology, microbiology, chemistry and physics eventually led her to attend ultrasound school to become a sonographer.
Ultimately, Rebecca said being the Wellness Manager at The Woodlands ties together all that she has done in the past with her lifelong interests in health, nutrition, fitness and medicine.
“I have a strong interest in working in medicine, but after working in ultrasound, I realized that what I really loved was the human interaction part, even more than the clinical part,” said Rebecca. “I disliked the time constraints and often felt the job was more about getting the perfect image for the radiologist than the patient on the table.”
Today, Rebecca’s role at The Woodlands is big on human interaction and includes managing the community’s concierge staff, helping new residents get oriented and acting as a liaison with families, hospital staff, doctors and caregivers.
Rebecca also steps in if a resident has memory issues or a physical challenge that presents a problem, and coordinates with private agencies and caregivers when necessary. She also arranges all exercise classes and fitness programs taught on-site.
“The job I’m doing is really unique to this community,” said Rebecca. “A lot of places have a nurse on staff, or an activities director, or both, but the scope of my job includes things associated with both of those positions and much more.”
“I feel very endeared to the residents, and I really love what I do,” she added. “I’m so grateful I’ve been able to work at The Woodlands as the capstone to my career. Working with ‘the greatest generation’ has been the privilege of my life!”
