Salter Promotes Long-Time Staffer to Director of Nursing

When Christine Lilley’s infant brother died from Leukemia it was then she knew that she wanted to be a nurse and help others.

The daughter of the late David Lilley, former Lieutenant of the Woburn Fire Department, and Priscilla Lilley, a longtime staff member for Woburn Public Schools, she graduated from Woburn High and eventually, Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing as a Registered Nurse. While attending nursing school, in 1991, she got a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant for Woburn Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, checking many of the boxes that first attracted her to nursing. It’s been nearly 30 years since she joined Salter and she hasn’t looked back since.

Salter HealthCare (www.salterhealthcare.com), one of Massachusetts’s most trusted leaders in rehabilitation and skilled nursing care, is now pleased to promote her to Director of Nursing for their Winchester Rehabilitation & Nursing Center community. Lilley previously served as the Assistant Director of Nursing for Abjerona Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, Winchester’s sister community. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing all of Winchester’s nurses, ensuring quality care and helping with admissions.

“We are fortunate to have Christine as a key member of our nursing leadership team. Her many years working in various roles within Salter HealthCare position her well for success in her new key role at Winchester Rehabilitation & Nursing Center. We are fortunate to have many staff that share Christine’s long tenure with us,” said Jennifer Gizmunt, Chief Executive Officer of Salter HealthCare. “Many of our staff have been with us for 20, 30 and even 40 years. They are attracted to our family-centric work environment where everyone works as a team and there are opportunities to advance within the organization. Christine’s promotion to Director of Nursing is a good example of that.”

Throughout her 27-year nursing career, Lilley has held a variety of positions at Salter’s Woburn and Abjerona communities, including Staff Nurse, Nurse Supervisor and MDS Coordinator. In 2013, she was promoted to Assistant Director of Nursing for Abjerona. But, for Lilley it’s more than the career opportunities and the promoting from within philosophy that have kept her at Salter for so long. In 2003, her daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Retinal Blastoma and it was through that journey her commitment to Salter was cemented.

“Salter understood what I was going through and supported my family in every way,” said Lilley. “They have amazing support systems in place that allowed me to work different shifts to accommodate her treatment schedule and were flexible to what worked for me. I could not have asked for more.”

After two years of treatment, her daughter was cancer-free and remains in remission today. Both of her daughters eventually went on to work at Salter communities.

“Although I will miss Abjerona’s patients and families terribly, I am excited about taking this next step in my career and am confident that Salter and my fellow team members will continue to support me,” said Lilley.