CASSANDRA MOORE
Health Care Administrators
HOMETOWN: SOUTH GLENS FALLS, NEW YORK 2005 GRADUATE OF SUNY ADIRONDACK WITH AN ASSOCIATE DEGREE IN NURSING 2015 GRADUATE OF EXCELSIOR COLLEGE’S BRIDGE PROGRAM, WITH BACHELOR’S AND MASTER’S DEGREES IN NURSING EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP CURRENTLY: SERVICE LINE ADMINISTRATOR AND DIRECTOR OF NEUROLOGY AND STROKE PROGRAM AT GLENS FALLS HOSPITAL, ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR IN SUNY ADIRONDACK’S NURSING PROGRAM
Cassandra Moore didn’t understand what the teacher at the front of the BOCES LPN classroom was talking about, so she raised her hand. “They said, ‘When you go to clinical …’” she remembered. “‘What is clinical?’ I asked. ‘I don’t even know what that is,’ and they said, ‘It’s when you go to the hospital and take care of patients.’ I raised my hand again and said, ‘I’m 17, I don’t think I should do that.’” Moore was enrolled in the licensed practical nursing program her senior year of high school by her school counselor, who knew Moore wanted to become a nurse. Then, the counselor went on maternity leave and Moore missed orientation, so the start of the program was daunting. She successfully completed it, though, graduated from high school, started work as an LPN at Fort Hudson Nursing Center and dove into SUNY Adirondack’s Nursing program. “It was intense,” she said. “I was one of five or six who were right out of high school; most had another degree or were returning adults.” After graduating in 2005, Moore worked at Glens Falls Hospital, Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital and, eventually, in Albany Medical Center’s Critical Care Unit.
“I found myself drawn to critical care,” Moore said. “I like the intensity, the detail orientedness, you never know what you’re walking into and I liked collaborations with physicians at one of our region’s most well-known hospitals. Working at Albany Med gave me the clinical skills I needed to grow my career.” While at AMC, she enrolled in a bridge program at Excelsior College, from which she earned a master’s degree in Nursing Education and Leadership. When she saw Glens Falls Hospital was hiring an education position in critical care, she applied and was hired. She helped establish the nurse residency and Critical Care 101 programs at the hospital. “That didn’t exist when I went to nursing school; you just got thrown in,” she said. “That’s where I got the passion for program management.” For years she cared for stroke victims at Albany Med. When Glens Falls Hospital began planning a stroke program, she dove in to help develop it.
“I like that I help the physicians develop the care nurses are delivering,” Moore said. “I’m still a
critical care nurse, but I have a bigger impact because the protocols and workflows I contribute to and monitor every day are affecting every patient.” That impact, on individuals and our region’s health care, was recognized by SUNY Adirondack’s Office of Alumni Relations, which in December inducted Moore into the college’s Trailblazers Society. The award recognizes individuals who demonstrate excellence in professional achievement, community service, service to SUNY Adirondack and/or outstanding spirit. Moore was promoted to service line administration/director of Glens Falls Hospital’s Neurology & Stroke Program in 2020, is co-chair of the hospital’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, and teaches nursing students as a clinical instructor. “I tell the students, ‘In 15 years, you don’t know where you’re going to be because health care is always changing,’” Moore said. “When I graduated from nursing school, my job didn’t exist; I had no idea this was the path I was going to take, but I love what I do.”