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The New N.H. Hospital CEO Once Worked There As a Nurse, Too

Thomas Fearon

The Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services is preparing for a new role: CEO of New Hampshire Hospital. But it won’t be Shibinette’s first time working there.

One of her first jobs out of nursing school was as a charge nurse and relief shift supervisor, working primarily with geriatric patients at Thayer Building, part of the hospital campus.

Shibinette says her background as a nurse — and later as an administrator at Merrimack County Nursing Home — will be an asset in her new job.

"Being able to speak the same language as the majority of the staff, and having some of that clinical background to fall back on, is just going to be so helpful going into the position,” Shibinette says.

Shibinette will take over New Hampshire Hospital and Glencliff Home at a time when the entire mental health system has been under serious strain, with many patients across the state struggling to access treatment.

She says one priority is getting all of the different players in the mental health system to collaborate more smoothly.

“I really think that there’s going to be a significant focus on taking down the walls,” she says. “Not structurally, meaning the building walls, but the perception of walls between the community and inpatient and even our community hospitals.”

Casey is a Senior News Editor for NHPR. You can contact her with questions or feedback at cmcdermott@nhpr.org.
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