Charmaine AttardCharmaine Attard has been appointed director of care at Hilltop Gardens Retirement Village, a subsidiary of AX Holding, which brings the concepts of independent living and assisted care under one roof.
Ms Attard is a nurse by profession with more than 15 years’ experience. After graduating with a degree in nursing from the University of Malta, she worked as a staff nurse at St Luke’s Hospital, after which she went on to work as a nurse within the private sector for several years. In the meantime, she read for a Master’s in Nursing with the University of Manchester.
Having experienced being on the shop floor and acquiring years of hands-on experience, Ms Attard was promoted to various managerial positions which ranged from home manager at Casa Arkati to operations manager at Care Malta, where she was responsible for six facilities for the elderly.
For the last six years and just before joining AX Holdings, Ms Attard served as director of nursing and midwifery at Mater Dei Hospital and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital.
During these years she had more than 2,000 staff members within her remit. Ms Attard is also an assistant lecturer within the Department of Nursing within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University, where she has lectured for over 10 years.
Ms Attard is currently reading for an MBA at the University of Leicester but what is probably her most significant quality and what landed her the role of director of care with AX Holdings is her passion for nursing and her belief that patients should always be at the centre of all decisions.
She believes that all those in the caring profession, including doctors and nurses, have the privilege to be close to patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Therefore, they have a duty to treat them with respect, dignity and the best care possible.