GREENFIELD — Andrew Clark passed staff in scrubs and residents maneuvering wheelchairs as he made his way through the halls of Greenfield Healthcare Center.
He confirmed an order of a new bed with a colleague and told a resident he’d help him arrange transportation to a bank. Before that, in his office, the former New Palestine High School baseball standout took a phone call over the facility’s bus getting rear-ended. Thankfully, there was no damage and no residents were on board.
Clark has gone from running bases to running a senior health center. He said his old career and his new one share plenty in common.
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“There are so many characteristics that you have to have for both this job and for being a baseball player,” he said. “You got to be a team player, you have to be consistent, show up every day and give it every single thing you have.”
After traveling North America as a professional athlete, Clark is back home in Hancock County continuing his second act as Greenfield Healthcare Center’s new executive director. He’s using lessons he learned on the baseball diamond in an effort to help improve his current team’s record.
Clark graduated from New Palestine High School in 2006 before playing baseball at the University of Mississippi and then the University of Louisville, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree.
Following college, the pitcher/first-baseman played for affiliates of the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. Clark then played in the Atlantic League in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and then in Mexico for a short time.
He had to have several shoulder surgeries throughout his baseball career and eventually could no longer throw. His days on the diamond ended in 2014.
Clark’s mother-in-law helped direct him on a new career path. She was an administrator for a senior facility and told him his personality would make him a good fit for it.
“I like to know people,” Clark said. “I’m a people person.”
He also had deeper motivations.
“I always wanted to do something where I could make a difference, have an impact on people’s lives,” he said.
Clark enrolled in an administrator-in-training course that was several weeks long and underwent myriad hours in the field, which included training in various departments.
He went on to work in facilities in Indianapolis, including The Forum at the Crossing, a retirement community on the city’s north side.
Clark started at Greenfield Healthcare Center in December 2019 out of a desire to be closer to home.
Located at 200 W. Green Meadows Drive, the facility is licensed for 163 beds and provides services like transitional, long-term and dementia care.
Greenfield Healthcare Center currently has a one-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Really my goal is to get this building back to being a five-star building,” Clark said.
To bat 1.000, the facility is going to have to overcome staffing challenges like Greenfield’s competitive health care market, low unemployment and a national nursing shortage.
Navigating the ever-changing rules that regulate the industry is another challenge. Clark said that, too, reminds him of his baseball days.
“You’re learning, you’re adapting; it’s constant hard work,” he said.
Along with focusing on recruitment, Clark said he plans to maintain and grow affiliations through which Greenfield Healthcare Center gains resources, like its partnership with Hancock Regional Hospital.
Lauren Hunt, director of public relations for Greenfield Healthcare Center, told the Daily Reporter in an email that she’s worked for the company for eight years under several different administrators, all of whom had different styles.
“I enjoy working with Andrew because he gets out on the units, and gets to really know his residents and employees,” Hunt said. “He is an ‘all team’ type of leader.”
Hunt added Clark doesn’t hesitate to jump in when needed, whether that’s meal services, helping make beds or getting rooms ready for admissions.
“The residents within our facility get his top priority, which is very refreshing to see and be a part of,” she continued. “His approachable personality makes it very easy for me to get all the pre-admission uncertainties settled, to make each of our residents feel welcome the moment they come through the door.”
