Some two and a half years after its former administrator left the organization, the care center hired a new leader, who has been settling in since March.

Dax Dowling came to Vashon Community Care (VCC) most recently from the Washington Veterans Home near Port Orchard. He served there for nearly five years as the associate superintendent, until his position was eliminated.

Since starting at the center, he said he has been getting to know the VCC community and Vashon more broadly.

“I am trying to learn as much as I can how things work and the overall business model,” he said.

He noted that health care is always changing, and he hopes to help VCC evolve with it.

“Where are we behind, and how can we move forward?” he said, noting that he is already considering where the center would like to be in 10 to 15 years.

While the future is important, Dowling said he is also looking to VCC’s past to learn important lessons from it.

“Where did we fall short, and how do we learn from that situation?” he said.

Dowling follows in the footsteps of Janelle Ansell, who left the care center in September of 2014 after nearly three years at the helm of the agency. Judy Beggs followed her on an interim basis, expecting to fill the role in a permanent position and pursued her administrator’s license, but changed her mind about the direction her professional life should take, VCC board president Susan Hanson said in an interview last week.

After Beggs’ decision early last winter, the board opened up the search process, which was led by Providence Mount St. Vincent in West Seattle, with which VCC has a management contract.

Both Hanson and fellow board member Joe Wubbold, who participated in the hiring process, noted how rigorous it was, with Hanson adding Dowling did not just jump through a few hoops, “he jumped through 17,000.”

Hanson, a former principal at Vashon High School, noted that she has read countless letters of reference, but she was particularly impressed by Dowling’s.

“They were the strongest, most direct and positive letters of reference I have ever read,” she said.

She credits Dowling with being a problem solver, an advocate for both residents and employees and an innovator.

Wubbold, too, said he is pleased to have Dowling on board.

“The results of our working together in the last two months and his reaching out to staff give me every confidence he will continue in that same way and will … be a good selection for us.”

In an interview last week, Dowling noted that The Washington Veterans Home is considerably bigger than VCC, with 240 beds plus a light nursing facility. The residents are primarily men, many of whom were veterans of the Korean Conflict and Vietnam War. More recently, he added, younger vets who fought in the Gulf wars and were dealing with the aftermath of those experiences, including traumatic brain injury, had moved in.

While that picture might seem dramatically different from the one at VCC, he said he has been struck by the similarities, including generations of families who worked at the home and people in the community who knew the residents before they were admitted.

“That is exactly like here,” he said.

Among his first observations, he added, is that VCC is fortunate in its numerous and dedicated volunteers.

“That is what makes this place very unique,” he added, noting in his first week he met more than 90 volunteers. He hopes to keep that up and create an even more robust program.

“That is what you want: to bring the outside in,” he said.

Dowling grew up in urban California and said he is glad to be living and working in a smaller community. Currently, he lives with his family, including his wife and their 15-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, in Port Orchard.