The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees by Matthieu Aikins.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Lots. Homelessness is something that is an area of great concern [as well as heart disease and cancers].
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Put on my comfy clothes and wash my face. Then I typically sit with my husband to have dinner, and we watch the evening news.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
One of those huts over the ocean, either in Tahiti or the Maldives.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
Elephants are pretty cool. Dolphins. Orcas. That’s a tough one.
The Naked Don’t Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees by Matthieu Aikins.
What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Lots. Homelessness is something that is an area of great concern [as well as heart disease and cancers].
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
Put on my comfy clothes and wash my face. Then I typically sit with my husband to have dinner, and we watch the evening news.
What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
One of those huts over the ocean, either in Tahiti or the Maldives.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
Elephants are pretty cool. Dolphins. Orcas. That’s a tough one.
Off the Cuff
p she goes, ascending the switchback path.
Reflecting on opportunities in healthcare careers, Ella Goss says, “I’m the poster child for coming in as a frontline nurse and now overseeing the entire Providence Alaska region.”
The CEO began her climb in Newfoundland, where she grew up. “I have the ability to have my foot in both worlds,” she says of her Canadian citizenship. She and her American husband have discussed getting naturalized, but for now, “I’m a proud green card carrier.”
Seeking the American “county hospital” experience, Goss found her way to Kotzebue. She worked in emergency medicine in Anchorage and then joined the flight team. “It’s kind of the top of the food chain for nursing,” she says, because of the relative autonomy.
But she gravitated toward administration. “I love, love patient care,” Goss says, but “I didn’t just want to be at the bedside; I wanted to have a voice in decisions.”
She takes very seriously her role as the first woman, and the first nurse, to lead the state’s largest private employer since its founders, the Sisters of Providence—an order of nuns from, as it happens, eastern Canada.
p she goes, ascending the switchback path.
Reflecting on opportunities in healthcare careers, Ella Goss says, “I’m the poster child for coming in as a frontline nurse and now overseeing the entire Providence Alaska region.”
The CEO began her climb in Newfoundland, where she grew up. “I have the ability to have my foot in both worlds,” she says of her Canadian citizenship. She and her American husband have discussed getting naturalized, but for now, “I’m a proud green card carrier.”
Seeking the American “county hospital” experience, Goss found her way to Kotzebue. She worked in emergency medicine in Anchorage and then joined the flight team. “It’s kind of the top of the food chain for nursing,” she says, because of the relative autonomy.
But she gravitated toward administration. “I love, love patient care,” Goss says, but “I didn’t just want to be at the bedside; I wanted to have a voice in decisions.”
She takes very seriously her role as the first woman, and the first nurse, to lead the state’s largest private employer since its founders, the Sisters of Providence—an order of nuns from, as it happens, eastern Canada.
Ella Goss: I really love to hike or run… When I’m not doing that, if there’s an opportunity for fishing or RVing, I do that.
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Goss: Some sort of dancing, like salsa or ballroom… To be able to, at a gala, be like [snaps fingers], “Look at what we can do!”
AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
Goss: I don’t know if this is daring, but we just did a jetski tour out to Blackstone Glacier… [From Whittier] you go 25 miles out on a jetski to the glaciers… I had the most fun riding up a wave and crashing down.
AB: What are you superstitious about?
Goss: Never walk in the emergency room and say, “Oh, it’s quiet in here.” Never.
AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Goss: Little Italy on 88th.
AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?
Goss: Tom Petty.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Goss: I’m at a point in my life where, if I want to drink a really good bottle of wine, I will buy a really good bottle of wine… I’m a true Cabernet person… At our house, white is for when there’s no more red.
AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?
Goss: I think that I have the ability to make whoever I’m standing in front of feel very important and very valued… [But] when someone brings me a problem, I go to the problem solving, thinking, “Oh, I’ve done this before.”
