WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Nearly 18 years ago, Gwen Whitley began working at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, guided by an experience that had changed her life years earlier.
Whitley, a nurse by training, was inspired after a close friend died of breast cancer at age 36. Whitley visited her friend in the organization’s inpatient care center on the morning of her death, an experience she says left a lasting impression.
Two years later, Whitley joined Lower Cape Fear LifeCare as clinical director of the intake department. Over the next nearly two decades, she advanced through the organization, eventually becoming chief executive officer…