My Calling

_{July 27, 2023}
Tonya Fails has been a Nursing Assistant for over 30 years. We have been lucky enough to have her on our care team at the Respiratory and Nursing Center of Dayton for the last 7 years. Her mother and her aunt were both Nurses, but Tonya said, “My calling is to be hands-on and to take care of my residents, and the best way I can do that is to be a Nursing Assistant.”

I had the privilege of working alongside Tonya yesterday, and witnessing her love and compassion for her residents firsthand made me so proud and thankful to have someone like Tonya on our team. We were standing and talking in the hallway when she looked over at one of her residents who was in his wheelchair and said, “Michael, do you need to use the restroom?”

Michael knocked his head and said, “Yes.” Now I had seen Michael sitting there, but he wasn’t moving or making any desirable motion to Tonya. I looked with astonishment at her and asked how she knew to ask him that?

Tonya smiled at me and said, “I know my residents,” and with that, we proceeded to help Michael to the restroom.

Tonya told me that she just loves getting to know her residents, she shared, “I love knowing everything about them; where they lived, what they did for a living, what they love doing for fun. I want to know everything about them.” Tonya told me that helps her take better care of them and gives me opportunities to have conversations with them about things they like and enjoy.

It's days like yesterday with amazing people like Tonya, who make me so proud to be in long-term care. There are countless caregivers out there like Tonya who are the best of our society and are living out their calling every day, taking care of our seniors.

“Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light.

You’ll never know how much your caring matters.

Make a difference for another today.”

- Amy Leigh Mercree

Bob Speelman, STNA