WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. (WFLA) – The Assistant Vice President of Nursing at the AdventHealth hospital in Wesley Chapel is a minority woman making a difference in the hospital and in the community.
Dr. Cynthia Rowell joined the AdventHealth Wesley Chapel team in October of 2020. She is living out a dream that she’s had since she was a little girl.
“I grew up going into hospitals like it was a normal everyday thing,” Rowell said.
Rowell’s Grandmother, also known as Nana was a nurse in Louisville during Rowell’s upbringing.
Well, that dream came true. Rowell attended the University of Louisville and immediately got a job in the nursing field.
“I started out on the same floor that my Grandma retired from,” she said. “She retired two years before I started.”
After nursing school, Rowell went on to get her Masters once she realized she wanted to get off the nursing floor and move into executive leadership within healthcare. At the time, she and her husband welcomed their first child as well.
“I’m a dreamer and my husband knows that,” she said. “It might have seemed like a lot, but I was able to get through it with the help of my amazing partner and while also taking it slow. You don’t have to finish in two years, take your time. I can recall being on a trip with my family and submitting a paper for school while we were at an amusement park. You just have to find that balance.”
She didn’t stop there though. During the pandemic, Rowell graduated with her doctoral degree. While being a wife, mom and a leader in the healthcare field, Dr. Rowell’s dreams continue to evolve.
When Dr. Rowell joined the AdventHealth team seven months into the pandemic, the hospital was suffering great loss.
That second wave when I came in hit this team very hard,” she said. “As nurses we don’t get in this profession to see people die. We get in this profession to see people live, to discharge them better than what they came in. My nurses were tired.”
As the new leader, Dr. Rowell quickly became more than that. She became a helper, prayer partner and confidant.
“Strength looks like leading beside and not always leading in front of people,” she said. “There were days I was in here in scrubs and teachers and the team was like what? We had everyday moments of holding hands, crying, offering chocolate in my office. I say you can come in for candy or come in for a tissue.”
As a minority woman, she doesn’t take this roll for granted.
“Often times you look around a board room and you’re the only one,” she said. “Each level up I take that as being able to show my community, other girls that look like me that we can do this.”
She does it with her faith at the forefront and with one goal in mind.
“When it comes to being an executive I want to look around and be equally represented as a woman in an executive setting,’ she said. “I love being a minority woman, I love being able to say Assistant Vice President of nursing and I get the opportunity to mentor others.”
Dr. Rowell has had a positive impact on the hospital, its patients and even the people in the Wesley Chapel community. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Rowell is a minister. However, she is able to bring her spirituality into the hospital to help her lead as AdventHealth is a faith based hospital.
“It feels like home because I’m allowed to bring my spiritually into my workplace to support my team and be there for others,” Rowell said.
Her hope this Women’s History Month…
“I want us going forward as women to know we are equipped, we are strong, we are equally as valuable and we bring a unique perspective to healthcare and to business.”
Dr. Rowell says she plans to continue impacting the AdventHealth team and she hopes to bring in a diversity and inclusion board soon.
