OHCA Spring/Summer 2019

www.ohca.com SPRING/SUMMER 2019 The Oregon Caregiver 23 What type of skills does it take for someone to succeed in this environment? You’ve got to have a love for kids. A lot of people will come here and be sad. But, this is one of the happiest places I have ever worked. These kids are so energetic and happy. So, it has to be the right place. It has to be what you want to do. Here, helping each child be comfortable and live to their best ability is the goal. Another skillset you must have is being able to understand the gray. I think PROFILE nurses are good at this. In long term care, you’ve got to give them residents meds and things like that, but quality of life and patient choice are just as important. The work is hard, and it is total care, but our staff just love the kids. I love coming to work every day. It’s all about these families and these kids. Like with any long term care setting, the resi- dents just bring you up. The students come in and they meet the kids here and once a month they come back and visit their friend and they get to learn about them. The essays they write at the end of the program are lifechanging. They talk about how different they thought they were from the kids here and how they found so many similarities with them. That’s not only wellness for our kids but that is wellness for our community.