By Jim Rada
Kristen Dollason’s life changed in 2010. That year, she moved from New England to South Carolina, and she also changed professions and got involved with senior care.
“My background was in sales, but I wanted to serve more in a customer service role and be able to help people,” said Dollason, executive director of Mount Pleasant Gardens.
She got a job as a sales counselor with a senior living community in Mount Pleasant. “It was perfect for me because I enjoyed providing a needed service to families and future residents,” she recalled.
Dollason loved her time as sales counselor. However, she knew she could do more and be an even bigger help to seniors by becoming a senior living administrator. She studied and earned her administrator’s license in 2014.
Dollason left senior care for a short time in 2017 when she moved to Georgetown, South Carolina. She worked in real estate, but, even with this change in profession, she had the foresight to earn a Seniors Real Estate Specialist certification and focused on assisting seniors with their real estate needs.
While living in the Georgetown area, she was offered another administrative position with a senior care facility, but she turned it down at first. When it was offered to her again, Dollason accepted and returned to senior care in 2020.
“Of course, that was the year we had to deal with COVID, which was a rollercoaster ride,” Dollason said. “It was particularly tough on seniors who had to be so isolated and separated from their families.” The entire staff needed to step in and become an extended family to these individuals during a very difficult time. Dollason is particularly proud that she and her staff were able to keep COVID out of their community for the first 10 months.
Dollason recently became the executive director of Mount Pleasant Gardens, a community that helps people living with dementia lead a life full of joy, purpose and dignity. “I have a soft spot for this population of people because my grandmother had Alzheimer’s,” Dollason said. “When I would visit her, I would see the help she was getting and think that was work I wanted to do.”
Now, after spending years searching for her path in health care, Dollason has found her calling with Mount Pleasant Gardens and knows this is where she is meant to be.
Kristen Dollason
Mount Pleasant Gardens
1025 Hungryneck Blvd., Mount Pleasant
843-216-1001
gardensmemorycare.com/mount-pleasant-gardens/
