Getting to Know:  Vanessa Wilson

Vanessa Wilson was honored as a recent Employee of the Month. This is what a family member wrote about her, “Vanessa deserves to be rewarded for her amazing rapport with her residents. She has a gentle, yet confident hand, and her use of humor is just the ticket for Mother. In Mom's constant world of confusion, she is comforted in knowing that Vanessa and the rest of the staff are there to care for and love her.”

Vanessa is a Psych Tech (also called Alzheimer's Specialist) working in Home Six in the Memory Center. Psych Techs have education or experience that gives them special skills in working with residents with dementia. They work closely with the Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) also assigned to that home and in some cases have CNA training themselves. When this center was first opened staffing did not include this position but the need was identified and our staffing has included them ever since.

Most of Vanessa's time is spent working with the residents doing the various activities on the daily activity schedule. “Sometimes the schedule works just like it is posted but every now and then we find that we need to modify a particular activity to be most effective for the residents. We learn to be flexible. Depending on how their day is going, some residents will even require one-on-one activities.”

Keeping someone with dementia busy is important for several reasons. “They are happier. They sleep better at night. They have a sense of being independent. Sometimes they think that they can't do certain activities but we work with them and they find out they can after all. I have helped our residents plant flowers in our courtyard and the next day they don't remember it but then when we walk there I remind them that that flower or plant is theirs and each time they are proud all over again of what they have done.”

Vanessa heard about St. Simeon's from her cousin, Don Bunch, in Dietary. She has a college degree but when she applied for a job the only opening we had for her was in housekeeping. She was smart enough to take it (get her foot in the door) and a week later when the Psych Tech job opened up she was offered it. Her field is actually in sports medicine but she thought that she would try this and see how she liked it.

Vanessa has had a variety of job experiences. Since high school she has spent time doing hotel housekeeping, lots of fast food jobs, and even doing data transcribing for the IRS. But she likes this job much better. “After being home sitting by myself, talking to the wall, I get to come here, spend time with the residents, talk to them, get to know them, tell them about myself, establish friendships - I can't believe that I get paid for this!

She also enjoys getting to talk to the family members. “They are very helpful in sharing with me how best to approach their loved one. They can tell me things about the resident that might take me six months to figure out.”

Vanessa was born in Atlanta and lived there until she was eight years old. The family moved to Tulsa (her dad is from Oklahoma) and she has lived here ever since. She attended MacArthur Elementary School, Whitney Middle School and graduated from Nathan Hale. She was always an outstanding basketball player and attended Connors State College on a basketball scholarship. Then she went on to Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida where she played another two years until her graduation.

She still hopes to someday pursue a career in her field of Sports Medicine and become a certified Athletic Trainer. That job involves prevention, management, treatment, rehabilitation, and counseling athletes about sports injuries. She must first pass the very difficult National Boards. She has taken the test once and passed the oral part. Now she plans to take it again and try to pass the written and written simulation parts.

But, meantime, she is learning a lot here. “Every single day in report (shift change when staff report to the next shift necessary information about the residents for that day) I learn something new about the brain and how dementia progresses. Some things I had learned in class but forgotten but it comes back.”

Other things about her job have been new to her. She is a Jehovah's Witness and didn't celebrate holidays but here the holidays are for the resident and she is helping them celebrate them. She enjoys gardening with the residents. “It appeals to residents with varying abilities. Some have always enjoyed gardening and are quite good at it but for others they're really just enjoying the feel of the plants and soil, the texture, the mushiness, the odors. It's good therapy for all of us.”

When she isn't studying for her upcoming test, she likes to read. “That is something I learned from my mom who was a big reading fan and I inherited her book collection.” Vanessa likes most fiction: mysteries, love stories, fantasies, horror stories; two of her favorite authors are Stephen King and Anne Rice.

Vanessa doesn't know what life has in store for her but whatever it is she says that she will be happy. “I want to thank whoever it was that said that about me. My boss, Sue Slama always tells me that I am doing a good job - she is very encouraging to all of us - but hearing it from a resident's family member has made the whole last year and 6 months worth it for me!