Fall Winter 2017

The Oregon Caregiver Fall/Winter 2017 www.ohca.com 22 PROFILE Amanda Rice, RN, Wellness Director & Ariana Lopez Morales, PSA Rackleff Place LEADER Amanda Rice, RN, Wellness Director, and Ariana Lopez Morales, PSA, were featured in the videos for our legislative grassroots campaign, Better Care Oregon. They are both caregivers at Rackleff Place in Canby, Oregon, and love the work they do. Hear more about their passion for long term care in our Better Care Oregon videos which can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/BCOVideos. How did you come to work in long term care? Amanda: When I was little, I wanted to be a surgeon, but I had a pretty awful accident and couldn’t keep my hands stable enough so that dream went away really quickly. I still wanted to be in the medical field. When I was 18, my roommates were CNAs. I met them for lunch one day at the assisted living community they worked at, and I fell in love. I’ve now been doing this for almost 12 years. I didn’t finish my nursing school until 2015, but I worked in the field the entire time. I was lucky enough to work under great nurses who taught me, which made nursing school easier. I’ve worked for Concepts in Community Living for almost 6 years, and they supported me through nursing school— through grants and other things they made available. They were supportive with my schedule, because, let me tell you, nursing school is almost like going to war. You go to all these boot camps; you stop sleeping; you’re studying all the time; and you’re always doing something. That was a huge transition that I was not aware I was getting into, and CCL was really great to support me through that. Then the door was opened for me at this position, I was not sure I was ready to be in the role of nurse manager, but I fell into it and it’s been a great growing experience. I have lots of support from our company and community. I have a lot of history as the caregiver, and so I’m just new to this position. Ariana: I went to high school around here, and I was running low on money and saw a sign advertising for an aide. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but in three days I was trained, and I got it down. Then I fell in love with the residents. They have taught me a lot. I plan on eventually going back to school to study nursing. What are your future career plans? Amanda: I love end of life care, and hospice is my end game goal. There is so much wisdom at the end of life about what’s important and what’s not. Long term care is more than being a nurse at the hospital—we hear about their emotional and spiritual needs and we try to provide holistic care. It is just as important to make sure their hair is right, or they get an opportunity to garden because that’s what they’re living for. What do you like about being a caregiver? Ariana: I love getting to know the residents and hearing them tell stories. They often tell me things like “I miss my daughter.” And that breaks me but I tell them they have me. They also show me pictures of their past—we have football players and dancers living here. What are some traits of a good long term care professional? What kind of person might find fulfillment in this type of work? Amanda: A good caregiver in long term care is invested not in the task but in the person. In acute care, it’s more task oriented. Here, our goal is to learn the person and do what they want to be done with them. Sometimes that’s the Ariana Lopez Morales (left) and Amanda Rice share their experiences working in long term care.