Meet The Team

Arlene Spack
Executive Director

Lakeside Assisted Living

Ms. Spack is a native of Johnstown, PA and has been a resident of Salisbury, MD since 1988. She has been the Executive Director of Lakeside since it’s opening in 2000 and has been an integral component to Lakeside’s success. Her career began as a graduate of the Greater Johnstown Area Vocational Technical School of Nursing Program and has culminated in her successful completion of certification as a Maryland Certified Assisted Living Manager.

Ms. Spack's professional career has been highlighted by multiple disciplines involving the care of the elderly and has included a diverse history of hospital and office nursing, health education, quality assurance, and over 15 years of administrative experience in the assisted living industry.

Community involvement and accomplishments include a previous six year seat as Vice Chair of the Wicomico County Commission on Aging, former representative to the Board of Directors for MAC, Inc., current member of the Board of Directors of TLC Community Services, Inc. and a Member in Good Standing of the ALNA.

arlene@lakesideassistedliving.com

Lori Santos
Human Resources Director

Lori Santos grew up on the Eastern Shore. After graduating from high school she moved to Richmond, VA where she attended the University of Richmond and obtained her B.A. in International Studies. Later, she moved back to the shore and worked in customer service related positions while going to school at Salisbury University. In 1998 she graduated with her M.A. in English. She then moved to the Washington, DC area where she taught English as a Second Language and worked as a Director of Guest Services in the hotel industry. Lori has spent 11 years working in the hotel industry in customer service.

After getting married Lori decided to move back to the Shore and make a career change to Human Resources. She spent the last 3 years working at Hudson Health as a Human Resources Director. Ms. Santos is certified as a Professional in Human Resources and is a member of the National Society of Human Resource Management. Lori's extensive customer service and HR experience will bring together the teams at Mallard Landing and Lakeside.

lori@mallardlanding.com

Kimberly Richardson, LGSW
Director of Resident Services

Lakeside Assisted Living

Kimberly is originally from Salisbury, MD. She graduated from James M. Bennett High School, and attended Western Maryland College which now is called McDaniel College, in Westminster, MD. She attended graduate school at University of Maryland at Baltimore. Kim received her Masters in Social Work in 2003, with a specialization in aging and a concentration in Counseling/Administration.

After Kim graduated from University of Maryland, she worked from July 2003-January 2006 as a social worker for the independent living of Oak Crest Village, an Erickson retirement community in Baltimore, MD. While working there she received her LGSW (Licensed Graduate Social Worker license) in 2004. As the Resident Resource Coordinator, Kim will be assisting the prospective residents and the family members through the admission process by helping them cope with the emotions that go along with this transition in their lives.

Once an individual decides to become a resident at Lakeside, Kim will assist with the adjustment process during the transition. On move in day, she will meet the residents and family members at the front door to help orient them to their apartment, community, and the new staff. Kim will make frequent visits to see how the new residents are acclimating, and will support them emotionally during this transition. She will also act as a liaison to the current residents and family members of Lakeside. Kim is planning on visiting each resident on a monthly basis to continually monitor their satisfaction and to assist with any concerns they may have. As a liaison for the family and resident, she will assist in resolving and diffusing any questions. If you would like to acquire any information or take a tour of Lakeside, please feel free to contact Kim at any time at 410-749-4480.

kim@lakesideassistedliving.com

Roxana Laguerre
Marketing Director

Lakeside Assisted Living

Roxana grew up in Maryland near the Washington Metropolitan area, but she has also enjoyed living in San Francisco and New England. Roxana joins us with 23 years experience in sales and marketing. Her experience in healthcare spans from marketing with home care agencies, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, to assisting quadriplegics with adaptive devices to help them maintain their independence.

Prior to her entry into healthcare, Roxana spent 18 years in the software industry, holding regional sales and management positions in Fortune 100 companies. She has a passion for the medical field, and after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, she spent time soul-searching in Europe and realized that her ultimate goal was to become a practitioner of holistic and integrated medicine. Roxana feels her experience in different segments of the healthcare industry helps her understand the needs of her clients.

As Marketing Director at Lakeside Assisted Living she is responsible for creating awareness in the community about the services Lakeside provides. This is accomplished by educating healthcare professionals, and assisting families in making difficult decisions about their loved ones needs for senior housing and services.

roxana@lakesideassistedliving.com

Crystal Charnock, RN
Director of Nursing

Lakeside Assisted Living

Crystal Charnock is a native of Laurel, Delaware.  After graduation from Laurel Senior High School in 1987, she moved to Salisbury, Maryland to pursue a career at Perdue Farms, Inc.  Crystal worked for 10 years in the Engineering/Maintenance Departments doing project accounting.  In 2000, Crystal embarked on a new educational path by attending nursing classes at Delaware Technical and Community College in Georgetown, Delaware.  She received her diploma in practical nursing in 2002 and began her nursing career at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, specializing in orthopedics, urology and neurology.  Crystal resumed her studies in 2003 and received her Associate’s Degree in Nursing in 2004.

Crystal came to Lakeside Assisted Living in August 2004 as a casual nursing shift supervisor, while continuing her employment at PRMC.  As staffing needs changed, Crystal took on the role of part-time shift supervisor, ultimately being promoted to the Director of Nursing in April, 2007.

As Director of Nursing at Lakeside Assisted Living, she is responsible for managing the nursing staff to include ten nurses and 26 certified nursing assistants.  She also ensures quality of care and management of medication administration for all residents.  Additionally, she prepares service plans for each resident and meets with families on an ongoing basis to ensure exceptional customer service.  She is also involved in the assessment of potential residents for admission to include a physical assessment, gathering of medical data and meeting with the admissions team. 

Crystal and her husband Rick reside in Laurel, Delaware.  Crystal has two children, Kurt and Brittany and one grandson, Kamden.  She enjoys camping, horseback riding and water sports. 

crystal@lakesideassistedliving.com

Michelle Mertz
Activities Director

Lakeside Assisted Living

Michelle Mertz is originally from Severna Park, MD and came to the Eastern Shore in 2000 to attend college at Salisbury University.  While at SU, she received her Bachelor’s degree, majoring in Interpersonal/Organizational Communications and double-minoring in Marketing Management and Gerontology.  Actively working with senior citizens for the past eleven years, she has held several positions and internships within various independent and assisted living communities in Maryland and volunteered her time in local nursing homes, retirement facilities and fundraising events.

Having worked at Mallard Landing and Lakeside from 2000-2003, she returned as Lakeside’s Activity Director in June 2007. Since then, Michelle has worked closely with residents to assess their interest in different activities, games, clubs, organizations and entertainment.  She strives to incorporate activities that stimulate the mind, allow residents to reminisce about decades past, encourage socialization, keep the body active, foster creativity, showcase their individual talents and perhaps learn a few new things along the way!

Michelle and her husband Bryan currently reside in Eden, MD and have a Golden Retriever named Jake who makes frequent visits to Lakeside!  When not hard at play here at Lakeside, Michelle enjoys reading, the joys of home ownership and boating in Ocean City.

Jay Hambright
Executive Chef

Lakeside Assisted Living
Mallard Landing

Jay grew up in a restaurant family that spanned 50 years in the business. This helped generate a life-long passion for creativity and enjoyment of food preparation. His educational background includes a BA in Business, Social Agency Management and Psychology from Springfield College. He took advanced studies at the University of Rochester, including Rochester Memorial Hospital in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatric Emergency and Group Psychotherapy.

In Jay's earlier life he created and administered social programs and established Federal, State and local financing for specific intervention strategies dealing with violent street gangs, violence prone neighborhoods and heroin addicted populations. He was a priority resource for Civil Rights progress. In his mid-life career hs created a graphic arts production house that manufactured advertising collateral, point of purchase materials, corporate communication materials and produced large format digital imaging.

Ten years ago, after selling his business, Jay moved to the Eastern Shore and mentored with some chef friends from Baltimore and Philadelphia just for fun. He came to Mallard Landing in April of 2000 and he enjoys it immensely.

jay@mallardlanding.com

Gary Chatham
Facilities Director

Gary Chatham, Facilities Director, has been employed at Mallard Landing for five years, bringing to the job a wealth of experience after working for many years at Dresser Industries until that business moved out of state.  While at Dresser he worked in the machine shop, did welding and routine maintenance, and generally developed a variety of job-related skills.  He also represented his co-workers by serving as a union representative.

Gary has been married for forty-one years and has two married daughters and six grandchildren.  He enjoys outdoor activities including hunting and range shooting competitions.

gary@mallardlanding.com

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