CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. – Sharon M. Pepper, Senior Vice President of Senior Living Services at Thompson Health, was recently appointed by New York State Gov. David A. Paterson to serve on the state Department of Health’s Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators.
A registered nurse and licensed nursing home administrator, Pepper joined Thompson Health in 1991 as the head of what was then a 108-bed facility called the Thompson Nursing Home. Now with 188 beds, the facility is known as the M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center and offers a broad range of services, including post-hospital care, long-term care and programs for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses. Pepper has also guided development of independent living at Ferris Hills at West Lake in Canandaigua and enriched living at the adjacent Clark Meadows. She is responsible for the development of the medical adult day program known as The Brighter Day and most recently oversaw the launch of a new Thompson program called Finger Lakes SAILS (Seniors Accessing In-Home Living Services), for those who wish to remain in their homes and want some assistance.
Pepper, who in 2007 received the New York Association of Homes & Services for the Aging’s James W. Sanderson Memorial Award for Leadership, traveled October 30 to a meeting in Albany, where her appointment to a three-year term on the Board of Examiners became official.