Gifford Hires Leader for Retirement Community, Nursing Home

Valley News Staff Writer

Randolph Center — Gifford Health Care recently named a new leader for its nursing home and growing retirement community.

Ursula Margazano came to Gifford last month after nearly 20 years of working in Vermont nursing homes, according to a press release from the Randolph-based health system issued on Monday. Most recently, Margazano served as administrator of Berlin (Vt.) Health & Rehabilitation Center.

At Gifford, Margazano serves as executive director of Gifford Retirement Community and as administrator of Menig Nursing Home. In these roles, she will lead a range of services aimed to address the needs of aging Vermonters in Orange and Windsor counties, according to the release.

“I was drawn to the Gifford team because of the community emphasis and opportunity to develop programs and services that best serve aging community members,” Margazano said in the release.

In addition to leading the 30-bed, three-star-rated Menig Nursing Home in Randoph Center, Margazano also will oversee 49 apartments designed as independent living — known as Morgan Orchards Senior Living Community — which opened last summer and are located on the same campus as Menig. Margazano’s responsibilities also will include Gifford’s adult day programs, which the hospital system operates in Barre and Bethel.

Additional independent living and assisted living apartments are planned for the Randolph Center site, according to Morgan Orchards’ website.

Margazano, whose first day was May 22, replaces Kim Campbell, who served as Menig’s interim nursing home administrator after Linda Minsinger retired last fall, Gifford spokeswoman Maryellen Apelquist said in an email on Monday. Minsinger worked at Gifford for 33 years.

Before working at the 141-bed, two-star-rated Berlin Health & Rehabilitation Center, which is operated by the for-profit Genesis Healthcare, Margazano served as administrator of 153-bed Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing in Berlin, executive director of Burlington Health & Rehabilitation and administrator of Haven Health Center of Rutland.

She was at Woodridge — which is operated by Central Vermont Medical Center and part of the University of Vermont Health Network — when she was named Vermont Health Care Association Administrator of the Year in 2015.

An Ohio native, Margazano holds a bachelor’s degree in health services administration from SUNY Institute of Technology, now SUNY Polytechnic Institute. She completed an administrator-in-training internship and earned a license in nursing home administration after moving to Vermont in 1999. Valley News Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.