Nadene Bradburn BCPA, MHA

At 24, I was on top of the world, working for a global consulting firm with large health systems in Chicago. Then one day, an ambulance took me to my client’s ER. Doctors discovered a brain aneurysm. What followed was two surgeries, paralysis, and a journey through nearly every level of care. Over eight months, I went from visiting doctors to understand my headaches, to a 911 call, to two craniotomies, three weeks in the SICU, two months of acute rehab, and five months of outpatient therapy. I returned to work not just consulting on health systems—but having lived through them, as a patient, in the 1990s HMO era. That experience reshaped me. I joined the Board of Directors of an internationally influential Disability Rights nonprofit and started a peer support group for young professional women with disabilities. I earned my master’s in health systems management at the same academic medical center where I had once been a patient. When I finished my degree in 2000, a former client hired me into lead programs I already knew as a patient. In my 25+ years in the industry I held Director-level positions in inpatient and outpatient department operations, medical staff development and med student training, and the EMS system in an urban area with 1.4 M people. I was part of a group to expand primary care into underserved areas because keeping people healthy helped them live longer. But I also knew firsthand that while people are living longer, our healthcare infrastructure has not kept pace. Those longer lives sometimes aren’t worth living. My own aging family and friends had to be vigilant to navigate our convoluted healthcare system and protect their rights, dignity, and quality of life. In 2018, I became a volunteer Long-Term Care Ombudsman, where I witnessed how easily older adults can fall through the cracks. COVID only magnified the brokenness of the system. That’s why I started my own advocacy practice: To help families navigate elder care with the clarity, compassion, and strength I know they deserve.

Rush University, M.S. Health Systems Management, 2000 Mount Holyoke College, BA 1994

Health Systems Leader Turned Elder Care Advocate | Lived Patient Experience | Tireless Champion for the Vulnerable

• I offer a FREE Initial Consultation
• I offer TeleAdvocacy Service
• My geographical area of practice is DMV--District of Columbia, Maryland, Northern Virginia