Good Samaritan Society-Waukon welcomes new Senior Director


New Good Samaritan Society-Waukon Senior Director Steven Bargar ...

Good Samaritan Society-Waukon welcomed a new Senior Director as of January 11. Steven Bargar assumed that administrative role at Good Samaritan Society-Waukon, filling that role previously held by Cathy (Smikle) Taylor, LNHA, who left the organization in order to move closer to her family..

“I am charged with providing operational, regulatory and spiritual leadership for our facility in Waukon and support to the administrators in West Union and Postville,” Bargar said in describing the duties of his new position.

Although new to his leadership position within Good Samaritan Society, Bargar is certainly not new to administrative leadership roles in healthcare. Within his new position he will be building upon a career in healthcare that spans more than two dozen years.

“I have been blessed to serve others in healthcare for over 25 years, I started in direct care as a Respiratory Therapist and EMT,” Bargar shared. “I stepped into management for the first-time in 2003. My experience in leading nursing facility teams began at ChildServe in Johnston, a unique organization that serves children and young adults with special healthcare needs. My role at ChildServe was as an Administrative Manager for their inpatient rehabilitation and long-term care units, as well as their medical group homes.”

Bargar comes to Good Samaritan Society-Waukon from Des Moines, where he served as the Organizational Integrity Director for EveryStep Care and Support. “EveryStep provides hospice, homecare and community support to 59 counties in Iowa. My role there focused primarily on quality, compliance and emergency planning and preparation,” he offered.

It was a combination of many aspects that Bargar said drew him to the administrative position at Good Samaritan Society-Waukon. “I was motivated to respond to the call to serve at Good Samaritan Society-Waukon by the opportunity to serve in a role with Spiritual and Operational Leadership components,” he explained. “I am a servant leader and the Christ-centered values of Good Samaritan are a great fit for me and my leadership style. The team at Waukon is amazing and I love the northeast Iowa community. There were many factors that made this opportunity appealing.”

Bargar’s foundation for his career began with earning a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Management from Walden University in Minneapolis, MN and a Master’s degree in Practical Theology from Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach, VA with an emphasis on Organizational Leadership. His pursuit of a career in healthcare administration further developed as he continued his employment in healthcare.

“I was a supervisor for the Respiratory Care Team at ChildServe and was asked to lead an Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit on an interim basis,” Bargar shared. “I eventually grew to enjoy the work and found it to be a good match for my strengths. After a restructure there, I had the opportunity to achieve my Licensed Nursing Home Manager credential and serve in a full-time leadership role.”

Bargar will admit that in all his education and experience he - much like most all others - has not been presented with the type and degree of challenge that have been a part of this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he says that he will continue to focus his efforts in meeting those challenges with a hopeful look to the future.

“COVID-19 is the greatest challenge I have ever faced in my 25-plus year career,” Bargar stated. “It has challenged everything we value as a society and as providers who care for the whole person. We are working hard to continue to provide excellent care and to keep the families of our residents engaged throughout the pandemic. I am hopeful that access to the vaccine and continued mitigation efforts will see us through this with the Grace of God.”

When not focusing his efforts on his new administrative duties, Bargar likes to take any opportunity he can get to enjoy some of the recreational aspects of what Iowa has to offer. Not originally from the area, it did not take him long to realize what he had been missing out on.

“I am a self-proclaimed mid-westerner who was born in the wrong place,” Bargar remarked. “I was born and raised in central California and moved to Iowa in the mid-1990s after marrying an Iowa girl. I am a man of God, a husband first. My wife, Diana, and I are proud parents to two adult children and have been blessed with three grandchildren. I enjoy bicycling and fishing of all kinds.”