Robert Petroff will become the next Director of Our Island Home, the island’s nursing home facility, town officials confirmed Wednesday evening.
Petroff’s first day will be December 13 as he overlaps with interim director Rachel Day until January 5, 2022, which is the date when she begins her new job as the executive director of Sherburne Commons, an independent assisted living facility on island.Petroff earned a Master’s degree from Duke University in Health Administration in 1984 and a Bachelor of Science degree from Babson College in 1980 for business administration.
Petroff most recently worked as an administrator for Athena Healthcare for over a year, where he temporarily provided direction, leadership, and oversight at healthcare facilities in Lowell, MA and Haverhill, MA.
Petroff has had several stops at other healthcare facilities and nursing homes across the state throughout his career, which began in 1985.
He was the executive director at the Center For Extended Care At Amherst, a 134-bed private facility from November of 2016 to June of 2017. He also served as the executive director for The Hermitage/Beverly Healthcare facility in Worcester, MA, a 101- bed facility which included a 38-bed Alzheimer’s Unit from 2002-2004.
Petroff has had other stops at nursing home and long term care facilities across the state as an administrator in places including Northampton, Chicopee, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Leads, Springfield, and Framingham.
His longest stop was as the Executive Vice President/Administrator of the Julian J. Levitt Family Jewish Nursing Home in Longmeadow, MA, where he oversaw the daily operations of the 200-bed facility for nine years from 2005 to 2014.
Our Island Home is hoping to find stability in Petroff after being forced to deal with several changes in leadership at the top since January of 2020. The most recent was the resignation of Chris Roberts in early November, citing personal reasons. It led to Day resigning from her position as assistant town manager on November 8 to focus her attention on the Our Island Home. Day has had to assume the role of Our Island Home interim director twice since January of 2020, and the nursing home has had a change of leadership five times since then.
