A few years back, Matt C. was working hard at a local manufacturing company packaging products for shipment. His mind, however, was somewhere else.
“I kept thinking about the residents at CHCC, wondering how certain people were doing,” he says. “I always had the people here on my mind.”
The residents and staff he’d gotten to know when he initially worked at Christian Health Care Center as a dining room assistant and hospitality aide just wouldn’t leave his mind. He felt in his gut that he had to go back.
That was nearly 4 years ago, and Matt hasn’t regretted it once. Overall, he’s worked at CHCC for about 6 1/2 years.
“I love the residents,” he says. “I love getting to know their stories. They know so much; they’ve lived their whole lives. It’s a really unique opportunity to get to care for them. I use every opportunity I can to talk with them. They become your family.”
Over time, driven by a desire to provide more personal care to residents, Matt has worked his way up from dining room assistant to dishwasher to hospitality aide to certified nursing assistant.
Today, Matt cares for residents in various ways throughout the day. As a CNA mentor, too, he counsels new employees on how to provide the higher level of care that CHCC is known for.
“Being a CNA mentor is a lot of responsibility,” he says, “but it allows me to ensure that residents consistently get the best care they can get.”
The first thing he does with new trainees, he says, is introduce them to the residents. It’s important that new CNAs get to know the residents as people, not just as part of a job.
“It’s a very personal job because it’s not just a job,” Matt says. “It takes a special level of person; you have to be sympathetic.”
Matt has known he’s wanted to do this kind of work ever since he was a kid. His mom, Lisa, started working at CHCC before he was born, so Matt grew up here, in a sense.
“I used to go visit mom at work after hanging out at the Boys & Girls Club nearby,” he says. “I would meet and talk with the residents, and I loved it. I’m 24 now, and my mom has been working here longer than I’ve been alive. I basically grew up here around the residents. I saw how well they took care of the residents here, and I wanted to work here.”
Matt’s mom still works at CHCC as an LPN, and Matt also would like to become a nurse, perhaps with the goal of becoming a traveling nurse one day.
When he trains other team members, Matt remembers his first few days on the job . The job was tough, even overwhelming at times. But Matt encourages others to stick with it, because the payoff is enormous.
“My advice to new employees is to give it a chance,” he says. “It can be overwhelming, but after you see the good you’re doing, it can be a great feeling. My best memories are making the residents smile. If you can make them laugh, it just makes you feel so great. Sometimes, they’ll stop you and tell you how much they appreciate you and everything you do.”
Matt also appreciates the camaraderie he feels working among other professionals in long-term care.
“Everyone is so passionate about what they do,” he says. “You can tell that people really want to be here.”
He appreciates being able to turn to them on challenging days.
“The health care community as a whole, they understand,” Matt says. “We are all looking out for each other.”
CHCC is hiring right now for a variety of positions. To find out what jobs are available for hospitality aides, dining room assistants, CNAs and more, check out the CHCC website at https://chcclynden.org/careers/.