Jeanne Leake

Jeanne Leake is the new chief of nursing at Lehigh Regional Medical Center. The announcement of Leake’s appointment comes from LRMC’s CEO Chris Rakunas.

Having worked in Southwest Florida for several years, she has returned after being employed in Pasadena, Calif.

Before she left Southwest Florida, she worked for Lee Memorial Hospital for 12 years and at Southwest Regional for five years and spent three years working at a Port Charlotte hospital.

At Lehigh Regional Medical Center, Leake oversees the complete nursing department including the surgical department, the Emergency Room, the ICU and Telemetry and the Wound Center. Overall, she oversees between 150 and 200 employees

Leake says she enjoys working at LRMC, a hospital of 88 beds.

“It’s a good hospital and we have an excellent staff of committed people working here. We are committed to the quality of care and to meeting the patients’ needs and their expectorations,” she said.

Leake said LRMC has experienced a busy summer with the emergency Room seeing between 80 and 120 patients a day. She likes to say that there is only a turnaround of less than two hours for anyone who has to use the services of LRMC’s Emergency Room.

When she was younger, she said the decided to go into nursing because the enjoyed helping people. And even though her duties are in a supervisory role over other nurses and technicians, she makes it a point to meet and greet as many patients as she can.

“I like to take time during the day to drop in on a patient to make sure everything is okay,” she said.

Her duties at the hospital require more than the average 40 hours a week, but Leake says she find times when she is off enjoying going to the beaches and searching for seashells.

“I’m a sheller that is something I really enjoy,” she said. She said she also enjoys cooking at home. We also have our Labrador retrievers, that we enjoy” she said.

Currently she lives in Fort Myers, but she and her husband, John, are looking for housing in Lehigh Acres. Her husband is a federal firearms dealer.

She’s been with the hospital at her new job since July.

LRMC’s CEO Rakunas said he is happy that Leake accepted the position.

“She is a good supervisor and she hasn’t lost the touch as a nurse. She also stops and talks to the patients to make sure their needs are being met. She’s a real people person and she is well liked by the staff.”