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Face to Face: Vintage Park’s Julie Hansen

By Shawn Linenberger - | Mar 5, 2015

Name: Julie Hansen

Born: Sioux City, Iowa

Family: Husband, Dave Hansen; son, Jerod; and daughter, Ali.

Occupation: Executive director at Vintage Park Assisted Living in Tonganoxie.

Dream Job as a child: When she was younger, Hansen wanted to be either a nurse or a flight attendant.

Interesting fact: Hansen lived on the island of Guam in 1968 for one year. Her father was offered a government assignment to teach high school there. It originally was a two-year assignment, but they returned home after one year because of health issues. She lived there without a television or telephone.

Digging deeper: In 1979, Hansen graduated from Burke High School in Omaha, Neb. While attending the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she worked as a reservationist for Hyatt hotels at an Omaha call center. She was selected for management in short order.

Hansen credits later positions in national sales and operations for affording her the opportunity to travel both domestically and abroad. These positions were for large corporate hoteliers, including IHG, Choice and Carlson.

The economy crash of 2008 brought with it elimination of a great deal of corporate travel. This gave rise to need of a new career for Hansen.

She opted for health care.

Hansen initially obtained a certified nursing assistant license, and worked for a time in a hospital setting. She and her husband subsequently managed an independent living community in Topeka before opportunity knocked with Vintage Park. Hansen accepted the position of community relations liaison in 2012, serving many of the Vintage Park communities in the region. She was offered her current role in October 2013.

She said she truly has a passion for the care of seniors.

“I learn so much from them on a daily basis,” Hansen said. “Anything I can do to lend comfort to their later years gives me limitless satisfaction.”

Hansen’s hobbies include playing golf, reading, visiting thrift shops and dabbling in interior décor.

She also enjoys visiting her children, who are grown, as one lives in Florida and the other in California.