Meet The Professional Staff at The Springs
Overwhelmingly, people describe The Springs at Simpsonville as one big family. Our management team is at the heart of that family atmosphere, and they wouldn’t want it any other way. Led by an award-winning executive director, our staff truly are part of a family environment, as many of our staff members have over ten years of service at The Springs!
Leigha Freeman, CRCFA
Leigha was born and raised in Simpsonville, SC. She graduated from Hillcrest High School and has been married since 2005,she and her husband have three daughters. Leigha started her career at an assisted living facility in 2007 where she worked in the dietary department. In 2008, she moved to the business office all the while still managing the dietary department. In 2015, she returned to school and completed her degree in business management. Her first Executive Director job was in 2016 at a facility in Fountain Inn, SC. Leigha came to The Springs in the spring of 2021. Leigha has stated that The Springs has always been her “dream job”.…
Danette Hall
Danette has been with The Springs since 2012. She started as a caregiver then became a medtech. After a few years, she then became Assistant to the Director of Resident Care and then in June of 2023, she took on the role of business operations. Danette is originally from Pennsylvania but has made South Carolina home. She is married with two children and grandchildren. She comes from a family of Navy Sailors. In her free time, Danette enjoys relaxing and watching movies, online shopping, spending time with family and going to church. She enjoys learning about the residents and hearing their stories. Danette’s motto is to lead by example, because…
Varesa Goodman, LPN
Varesa lives in Simpsonville with her husband of over 10 years. Together they have 2 beautiful children. Varesa joined The Springs family in January 2024. She has worked in the healthcare industry for the last 10 years. Varesa started her career as a CNA and furthered her education and received her degree as an LPN after realizing that she had always loved caring for people. She enjoys reading and in her spare time she likes to travel, trying new foods and going to the mall to people watch.
Carmen Calderon
Carmen has worked at The Springs at Simpsonville since 2018. She started as a caregiver and Med Tech and is currently assistant to our nurse and handles medication management. She has worked in the health care field since she was 16 years old. She loves working with the residents and hearing all their beautiful stories. She also did volunteer work for A Voice for Children, which helps with abused and neglected children. Carmen was born in Cleveland, Ohio and still has family there as well as family in Puerto Rico. She has 5 children and 2 grandchildren. The motto she lives by is to live life today like it’s your…
Isabella Hoffman
Isabella was born and raised in Fountain Inn, SC and graduated from Woodmont High School. She is a wife, a mother to her daughter, Aurora Grace, and a follower of Christ. She enjoys spending time with family, likes crafts, cooking, going to the beach and sharing the love of Jesus with everyone she meets. Isabella said it took several years to realize that working and caring for seniors is what she wanted to do and since then she has completely fallen in love with what she does and does it to the best of her ability to ensure that they receive the best possible care. Isabella joined The Springs Team…
Heidi Flanagan
Heidi loves her job at The Springs! She began working at The Springs in 2003 as a caregiver and a med tech before eventually moving into her current role where she helps oversee the daily operations and activities of our memory care neighborhood. Heidi is enthusiastic about her work with residents in The Springs memory care. She says, “I enjoy the residents. I love when I see that they can do things when we work together. I enjoy seeing them smile. To me, it’s just rewarding.”
Denise Wooten
Denise is originally from Bennettsville, SC. She moved to the upstate in 1994, when she was 16 years old. She is married with three daughters and two granddaughters. She began her career in a small senior living facility in Greenville, SC. Denise has been in the industry since 2005. She has a passion for cooking and also leadership. She states that she “loves what she does and continues to be the best she can be.” Although she just recently joined The Springs Team, Denise says that “it is a joy and honor to be able to work at The Springs and plans on spending many more years with the community”.
Kari Stritch
Kari feels so honored to be the Marketing Director and to have the opportunity to help families find forever homes for their loved ones. She married her best friend 25+ years ago, has 4 amazing children and 4 beautiful grandchildren, that she loves to spoil. Kari spent the last ten years teaching preschool and after volunteering one evening at The Springs, she soon realized her heart and soul needed to be with seniors. She has always put” Family First” in both her home and in her career. She treats our seniors as if they are one of her own parents. She has felt from day one, that the most important…
Jennifer McBride
Jennifer grew up in Simpsonville and graduated from Hillcrest High School. After high school, she moved to Greenwood where she attended Piedmont Tech. Still unsure of what direction she wanted to go career wise, Jennifer tried the food industry and worked in a restaurant in Greenville until she had her first daughter. She became a stay at home mom, to her now two daughters, for twelve years. Once her daughters got a little older, Jennifer decided to re-enter the work force and became the receptionist here at The Springs. She immediately fell in love with the senior community. Jennifer then accepted an Activity Directors position at a Skilled Nursing Facility,…
Debbi Grunden
Debbi was born and raised in Kansas. She lived in Pittsburgh, Pa for almost 16 years before moving to SC. She is happily married to her husband Don, has four children and seventeen grandchildren. She taught school before moving to SC. Once in Simpsonville, she managed a Hallmark store for five years before moving on to employment with Prisma Health where she worked in the ICU as a PCT and Cardiac Monitor Tech. Debbi came to us in the early part of 2023. She enjoys watching her grandchildren play sports and likes to travel.
Meet The Owners: The Howard Family
The Springs at Simpsonville is truly all about family… and it’s been that way from the beginning. The Springs began when the parents of current owner, S. Hunter Howard, Jr., and the parents of his wife, the former Martha Susan Baldwin, wanted to fill a need in the community for senior living. They formed a partnership that made The Springs a reality, and they forged community relationships with organizations such as First Baptist Church that remains strong today.
The family’s continuing commitment to provide a senior living community that is the next best thing to home for seniors in the Simpsonville area is an extension of the founders’ original vision. As Howard, Jr., says, “We not only own it, we live it. We live right next door and are in and out all the time. It’s important to us to maintain that local ownership, local contact, and local friendship.”
Mr. Howard and his wife have four grown children and 11 grandchildren, and they are looking ahead at the next generation of the Howard family involvement at The Springs. Hunter Howard III has already been involved with planning and building additions to The Springs, overseeing renovations, and he has worked closely with his parents to develop a plan for the future of The Springs in order to meet the needs of seniors in the Simpsonville area. Howard Jr. explains “Maintaining family ownership is important to us long term. In this business, a lot of the institutions are owned by corporations and foreign investors, and, to a certain extent, they lose touch with the community.” Being all about family is how The Springs began and how the Springs continues to ensure quality service and comfort for residents and their families. It is a family tradition that makes a difference.
