After nearly four decades in health care \u2014 and more than a quarter century at Windsor Regional Hospital \u2014 Karen Riddell is stepping away from a career that evolved in ways she never expected.<\/p>\n
Friday marked her final day as president and CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, capping a 37-year career in nursing and leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when I first started here in 1999 and I signed up for the pension plan, and you get your package and it tells you like your earliest retirement date is 2026,\u201d Riddell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m like, oh\u2026 2026\u2026 And yet it seems like it went by in a poof.\u201d<\/p>\n
From bedside care to the boardroom<\/p>\n
Riddell\u2019s path into health care was not always clear.<\/p>\n
She said she considered a range of careers \u2014 from marine biology to archaeology \u2014 before ultimately choosing nursing, inspired in part by her grandmother.<\/p>\n
After graduating from the University of Windsor\u2019s nursing program in 1989, Riddell began her career in Detroit, working at Henry Ford Hospital.<\/p>\n
At the time, she had no ambitions of leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember in fourth year nursing they teach you leadership and all that. I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t want to be a leader. I just want to be a nurse. I just want to take care of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
But several years into her career, Riddell said she began to see opportunities to make a broader impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started seeing things that I wanted to change but as a nurse I couldn\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That realization led her into leadership \u2014 first as an educator, then manager, director and eventually vice-president.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understood that I could still impact patients from a positive perspective in a management and leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(Source: Windsor Regional Hospital)<\/p>\n
Leading through a pandemic<\/p>\n
By 2018, Riddell had reached the executive level.<\/p>\n
Two years later the COVID-19 pandemic began to reshape health care systems around the world.<\/p>\n
She recalled the uncertainty in the early days, as hospitals prepared for what was coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when you\u2019re waiting for something bad to happen, the waiting is worse than once it actually starts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then you get into it and you take care of business. And that\u2019s what our teams did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riddell was on site as Windsor Regional Hospital transformed a St. Clair College\u00a0gymnasium into a 100-bed field hospital<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a moment she said made the pandemic feel real.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember when we started bringing in patients and that was a real like, wow. this is really happening right now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n While she points to the teamwork and resilience of staff as a source of pride, Riddell said the pandemic also intensified challenges that continue today \u2014 including rising aggression toward health-care workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe unfortunate reality is that we\u2019re still dealing with that day after day. So that can make a hard job even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n (Source: Windsor Regional Hospital)<\/p>\n A career defined by people<\/p>\n Despite the challenges, Riddell said the positives of the profession have always outweighed the negatives.<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily in my career, there has been a lot more good than bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the people that I\u2019ve worked with have really been there to support me through any of the kind of rough times.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout her leadership journey, she said staying connected to frontline staff remained a priority.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re the ones doing the work. They know where the challenges are and they know some of the ideas of how we can help fix and make things better.\u201d<\/p>\n Riddell also noted the significance of becoming the hospital\u2019s\u00a0first nurse to serve as CEO<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 something she said helped bring a frontline perspective to leadership.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Karen Riddell (right), interim president and CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, poses with incoming CEO Kristin Kennedy inside the hospital on Dec. 30, 2025. (Travis Fortnum\/CTV News Windsor)<\/p>\n Looking ahead<\/p>\n In retirement, Riddell said she is looking forward to spending more time with family, revisiting hobbies like gardening and reading \u2014 and travelling.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one that I\u2019m really excited about\u2026 I\u2019m going to Antarctica next year.\u201d<\/p>\n She also plans to watch closely as Windsor Regional Hospital continues to evolve, including the long-anticipated\u00a0new acute care hospital project<\/a>.<\/p>\n As she steps away, Riddell said she remains grateful for the opportunity to serve the community.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been an honor serving the community\u2026 and I know Kristen is going to do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n