Ozarks Profile - Bernie Dana

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What is your job?|ret||ret||tab|

"I joined the EU faculty in the fall 2001 semester. This was a career change that had been planned for over five years so I could pursue my love for teaching, contribute in a new way to my alma mater and slow my pace down a little," Dana said. Prior to joining Evangel, he served for 13 years as the executive vice president and a member of the board of directors of Vetter Health Services Inc., which owns and operates 33 nursing and retirement facilities. In 1992, VHS designed, built and opened The Manor at Elfindale in Springfield, and it now operates the entire Creek-side at Elfindale retirement campus. |ret||ret||tab|

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What is your involvement with the American Health Care Association?|ret||ret||tab|

Dana has served on the AHCA's quality improvement subcommittee since 1996, and he became chairman of the subcommittee in 2000. |ret||ret||tab|

"Right now we're looking at the development of a national, customer-satisfaction-based consumer guide," Dana said. "We're also looking at quality in leadership meaning in health-care administration engaging the concepts of quality management into the training of health-care administrators." |ret||ret||tab|

He added that quality improvement is one of the policy development subcommittees for the AHCA. As chairman of the subcommittee, Dana is an advisory member of the AHCA Policy Council. |ret||ret||tab|

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In what other ways are you involved with the health-care field? |ret||ret||tab|

I am staying active in long-term care as a management consultant," Dana said, noting that including his time with VHS, he has 29 years of experience in various professional, consulting and corporate leadership positions.|ret||ret||tab|

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What sparked your interest in health care?|ret||ret||tab|

"While working with a national CPA firm in Tulsa, I was recruited by a college acquaintance in 1973 to become the corporate controller for Bethesda Foundation, a nonprofit nursing home operator based in Omaha. I found that I loved the personal nature of long-term care, as well as the broad scope of business skills it requires finance, operations, housing, marketing, human relations, customer relations, etc.," Dana said. |ret||ret||tab|

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Tell us about your family.|ret||ret||tab|

"My wife and I have been married for nearly 35 years. We have two sons. The oldest graduated from the University of Illinois in 1996 with a degree in astronautical engineering. He works for Accenture as a systems engineer and lives in Chicago with his wife and our two granddaughters. The youngest is a graduate from Evangel University in 2000 with majors in marketing and management. He is a retirement planning specialist with the Assemblies of God Financial Services Group and lives in Springfield," Dana said. |ret||ret||tab|

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What are your favorite spare-time pursuits?|ret||ret||tab|

Dana likes to travel and to play golf. "I hope to be able to participate more actively in both of these activities with my new career in teaching," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

by Maria Hoover [[In-content Ad]]