Don Lundin brings a career of experience and a love for Mathews’ “small town, family feel” to position.
Don Lundin, administrator of the Riverside Health System Mathews Convalescent Center, is no stranger to Riverside or working in older adult care having joined the health system five years ago and worked at Patriot’s Colony at Williamsburg, the Smithfield Convalescent Center and Warwick Forest before joining the Mathews team.
Originally from Rhode Island, Lundin earned his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Rhode Island and his Masters in Health Care Administration from George Washington University. “I did my residency at the George Washington University Medical Center and worked in the ER there while I was in school,” Lundin said. “I actually got to work with a lot of the nurses and doctors who worked with President Reagan when he was shot. He came back to visit while I was a resident there and I got to meet him – I worked the elevator for his trip to the third floor.”
After graduate school, Lundin started off working in acute care settings, as an administrator for a hospital in New Hampshire. “I did that for five or six years and then one day happened to see an article in one of the trade journals for Marriott’s senior living services. I thought that sounded interesting, that they had a whole division for retirement communities, and I wanted to check it out, work with older adults and learn from the Marriott group.”
With Marriott, Lundin worked in senior living in Texas and Charlottesville until joining Riverside. Lundin officially moved into his new role with the Mathews Convalescent Center in March following the retirement of Shelton, the long-time administrator there. “It’s a privilege to come behind Guy Shelton and to come to Mathews,” Lundin said.
Riverside’s Mathews Convalescent Center located at Route 198 and Route 611 in Mathews, features comprehensive nursing care, a wide variety of social programs, therapy services and respite care.
“Our center has a small town feel, a family feel, and that has always been a draw for me,” Lundin said. “It’s a great facility and so well connected to the community itself. A lot of the staff has been here for such a long time, grew up in town and with the facility, and that alone really reflects the quality of the care they provide.”
Mathews, he said, is special. At Mathews, Lundin said, “it’s all about resident centered care,” which may sound like a health care buzz word, but in practice is the heart of culture change in senior living. “The way you see it play out,” Lundin said, “is with how our residents live their lives here. Say you have somebody who has moved in and worked the nightshift all of his life. His routine may be different than others who sleep during the night. Maybe he stays up. Rather than forcing that person to get up at a certain time, bathe at a certain time, we change how we approach caring for him instead of making him change how he lives his life to fit our schedule.”
Lundin lives in York County with his wife and when he’s not in Mathews, enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, who also live in the area, and on the region’s waterways boating.
Riverside’s Mathews Convalescent Center is located on Route 198 and Route 611 in Mathews on the Middle Peninsula. For more information about this senior living facility, contact (804) 725-9443 or visit www.riversideonline.com/continuing_care/rcc-mathews.cfm.