Simoneaux Joins North Oaks as Vice President of Patient Services

Gina M. Simoneaux, MSN, RN, has joined North Oaks Health System’s leadership team as Vice President of Patient Services.

A veteran nursing leader with more than 20 years of experience, Simoneaux will oversee the areas of: cardiology services; cardiopulmonary rehabilitation; centralized cardiac monitoring; hospice; pastoral and respiratory care; women and children’s services; and the medicine, telemetry, intermediate care and medical intensive care units.

“Gina’s passion for exceptional patient care and improving lives is matched by her knack for leveraging nursing best practices, dedication to the nursing profession and aptitude for building strong working relationships with others,” asserts Kirsten Riney, chief nursing officer for North Oaks Health System.

She comes to North Oaks from Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, where she served as director of nursing development and ancillary departments for the past five years. In the previous three years, she was the nurse manager for post-surgical trauma and bariatrics at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

Simoneaux’s prior experience also includes seventeen years with Lafayette General Medical Center, where she progressed from staff registered nurse to nurse manager to director of the orthopedics, neurology, cardiovascular, telemetry and medical-surgical units. During her tenure, she also was recognized as an Acadiana Top 25 Nurse in 2011, the hospital’s Heart of Gold Award recipient in 2008 and Heart of Nursing Award recipient in 2006.

Simoneaux earned a master’s degree in Leadership and Management from Walden University headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington and an associate degree in Nursing from Louisiana State University—Eunice. In addition, she is certified as a neurofeedback practitioner through the EEG Institute based in Los Angeles.

Professionally, Simoneaux belongs to the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, American Nurses Association, Association of Nursing Professional Development, Louisiana State Nurses Association, Louisiana Organization for Nursing Leadership and Southeast Louisiana Staff Development Organization.