Advertisement

Header Utility Menu

  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Events

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

  • Login

Virginia Business

Mobile Menu

  • Issues
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Advertisement

Header Primary Menu

  • Issues
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • Issues Archive
  • Industries
    • Banking/Finances
    • Law
    • Real Estate
    • Economic Development
    • Education
    • Energy/Green
    • Federal Contracting
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Hotels/Tourism
    • Insurance
    • Ports/Trade
    • Small Business
    • Startups
    • Technology
    • Transportation
  • Regions
    • Central Virginia
    • Eastern Virginia
    • Northern Virginia
    • Roanoke/New River Valley
    • Shenandoah Valley
    • Southern Virginia
    • Southwest Virginia
  • Reports
    • Best Places to Work
    • Business Person of the Year
    • CEO Pay
    • COVID-19
    • Generous Virginians Project
    • Legal Elite
    • Most Influential Virginians
    • Maritime Guide
    • Site Locator
    • The Big Book
    • Virginia CFO Awards
  • Company News
    • For the Record
    • People
  • Opinion
  • Lists
  • Awards/Events
    • 2022 Virginia Business Political Roundtable
    • Women in Leadership
    • Diversity Leadership Series
    • Virginia 500
    • Legal Elite
    • CFO Awards
    • Big Book of Lists
    • 100 People To Meet
    • Best Places To Work
  • Virginia 500
    • Read The Issue
    • Power Up Virginia 500
    • Buy an award plaque
    • Suggest execs for 2023

Home Uncategorized DEBORAH JOHNSTON 

DEBORAH JOHNSTON 

Owner, Serenity First Hospice, Richmond

Published June 28, 2022 by Alissa Skelton / Charlotte Rene Woods / M.J. McAteer

Johnston
Johnston

Deborah Johnston’s father inspired her career path. When she was a child, he encouraged her to pursue a job in nursing for the opportunities it could afford her.

“He said, ‘You’ll always have a job. You could join the Air Force and travel the world. But no matter what happens, you’ll always have a job, always be able to take care of yourself,’” Johnston recalls.

Johnston has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years, starting in the operating room before moving to the recovery room, and it has influenced her entrepreneurial ventures. In 1988, she founded home health care company Care Advantage Inc. and sold it in 2017. In 2013, she was featured on an episode of ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” TV show.

By the time her father needed hospice care in his old age, Johnston decided to create her own hospice company — Serenity First Hospice — in 2021. Choosing to put her father into hospice care was “difficult,” she says, but she eventually realized the positive impact the care had on him.

“I loved the things they did. They were good for him, and I said, ‘This is what I want to do. I want to help other people like people have helped my dad.’”

Johnston, who serves on the board of Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority, worries about nursing job retention and the well-being of nurses amid the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To reverse the “shrinking” trend, she adds, “health care workers need more accolades or acknowledgement” to help sustain them and the nursing field.

  Subscribe to Virginia Business. Get our daily e-newsletter.

Related Stories

Barefoot

BUFFY BAREFOOT

President — Virginia Beach, TowneBank, Virginia Beach

Trending

Dollar Tree CEO resigning; former Dollar General CEO to replace him

Rivers Casino Portsmouth opens to big crowds

Va. bill aims to reduce mental health stigma for health care workers

Framatome CEO retiring; CFO to be promoted

Former EAB buildings in Henrico sell for $5.35M

Sponsored Stories

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Advertisement

Advertisement

Trending

Dollar Tree CEO resigning; former Dollar General CEO to replace him

Rivers Casino Portsmouth opens to big crowds

Va. bill aims to reduce mental health stigma for health care workers

Framatome CEO retiring; CFO to be promoted

Former EAB buildings in Henrico sell for $5.35M

Sponsored Stories

In the New Year, Aim for Better Cybersecurity

4 innovative ways to create capacity

WHERE IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN WHEN YOU NEED IT?

P.A.I.N.T. Your Financial Mountain

5 Benefits of Treasury Management Services from Atlantic Union Bank

Blazing trails in the digital landscape

Get Virginia Business directly on your tablet or in your mailbox!

Subscribe to Virginia Business

Advertisement

Advertisement

Footer Primary Menu

  • virginiabusiness.com
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Footer Secondary Menu

  • Industries
  • Regions
  • Reports
  • Company News
  • Events

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Sign Up

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Instagram Get Our App

Privacy Policy Cookie Policy

Footer Utility Menu

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Business. All rights reserved.

Site Maintained by TechArk

wpDiscuz