Profile
New Member of COA Board of Trustees:
Carole Bergeron
Carole joins the COA as someone who has had extensive experience in creating services and programs that have increased the quality of life for older people. The journey from her childhood in Nashua NH to her residence in Chesterfield has included time spent in Germany, Connecticut, Texas, New Mexico, North Carolina and Arizona.
As it is for so many women, Carole has faced the challenges of balancing family life in changing locations, being a mother with two sons, and getting her education while also working. Married during the Vietnam war, her life as the wife of an Air Force officer brought them to Germany and the chance to travel all over Europe. While in Arizona, she and her husband were working and living with young Navajo and Hopi native American students, a unique experience of education through immersion.
Carole has held roles as a clinician, administrator, educator and consultant. As a nurse specializing in rehabilitation, she has been a leader creating and managing rehabilitation units in hospitals and becoming one of the pioneers in creating sub acute units in Long Term Care settings. Her license as a nursing home administrator led to becoming an executive director in a wellknown rehabilitation facility. As an educator, she has been part of faculties at Post University, Southern CT State University, Walden University and Albertus Magnus College. She has held positions as consultant for a number of companies providing rehabilitation services as well as overseeing quality assurance programs. Carole also was the Executive Director of the Connecticut Nurses’ Association.
As her life evolved, changes in her perspectives and goals led to striking out on her own. She credits her successful transition to working with a life coach, an experience that supported her pursuit of her education, moving on from a diploma program as a nurse, to a master’s degree, culminating in a PhD in Leadership and Organizational Change. The value of Life Coaching remained an important interest of hers and she currently has her own business, Bergeron Coaching and Consulting, which focuses on “providing individual coaching and consulting services for mid-career adults and people thinking of retiring and assisting them to make the choices that best fulfill their goals and life experiences.”
Carole lives in Chesterfield with her partner Larry Cervelli. Although she has travelled a great deal and lived in some interesting places, she feels at home in this gentle community. Both her sons and their families (2 amazing daughters-in-law and wonderful 4 grandchildren) live in San Francisco, so she has plenty of big city time in visits to them---which she loves to do! She also loves to cook / bake bread / make jams & jellies, knit, travel, and attend opera performances with Larry.
Luckily, both the COA and Chesterfield are the better for their presence in our community and bringing Carole into a group devoted to making aging a fulfilling time in life.
Posted: to Chesterfield News on Sat, Jul 20, 2019
Updated: Sat, Jul 20, 2019