Suzanne Gammon
Tribune
She’s brand new to the role of Administrator at the Au Château Home for the Aged, but Andree Quesnel is not new to the institution or to the community of West Nipissing. In fact, she believes she’s landed right where she was always meant to be – a place that carries precious memories while making use of her varied skills and professional experience.
Quesnel was born and raised in Sturgeon Falls, attended Our Lady of Sorrows School and Northern Secondary, worked local jobs at Premiere Pizza, Subway and Stop & Shop, and describes herself as a studious, quiet teen back then. Her formative years were marked by volunteer work, most notably when she would follow her grandmother, Lorraine Chartrand, who worked at Au Château. She remembers the elaborate décor, the Christmas dances, the special activities and attention aimed at bringing joy to residents and making Au Château feel like a true home.
“It’s where I learned the value of connection, compassion and community,” Quesnel says of those times helping out her grandmother. Those memories make her return here “not just a professional decision”, but a move “back home, back to purpose.”
The inspiration from her grandmother led her to study nursing, but she wouldn’t stop there. She went to Canadore College to become a Registered Practical Nurse, then earned a Correctional Worker diploma; a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Nipissing University; an IPAC certification for infection prevention and control; occupational health and leadership management certificates and more – and vows to remain “a student for life.” Never content to rest on her laurels, she says “health care is always changing, you have to stay on top” of new developments.
She worked in long term care, hospitals and educational settings from Ottawa to Sudbury over the years. This included a long stretch at Au Château from 2011 to 2020, where she worked her way up from RPN to RN Supervisor to Clinical Instructor and assistant in Occupational Health, helping with staff education on infection prevention and control. In 2019, she helped lead College Boréal’s PSW program, which has led to an important partnership in recruiting and training Personal Support Workers for Au Château and other LTC facilities in Northern Ontario.
