“Six years ago, in the early fall, my aunt (aka ‘Miss Daisy’) was a rehab patient here. She was always a second mom to me, living a few blocks from us. While growing up here in Mesquite, my brother and I spent a lot of time at her house hanging out with my three cousins. When I was in sixth grade our families moved to a farm in the country and we shared almost everything. Daisy and my mom both loved to bake and cook and would tag team to put together big family gatherings.
I’ve worked in hospitals since 1980 and as a facility operations director for large hospitals since 2000, retiring in 2015. I came to visit Aunt Daisy one day while she was hospitalized and she told me all about the medical care she was getting, her doctors and nurses, the good food and special diet (especially Friday catfish), her physical therapists, and how much better she felt after having been in the hospital only a week. She said this was a very special kind of hospital, but there was ONE thing that needed fixed…in her words…“You need to come to work here. My room was cold last night, and you need to fix it. They need somebody like you to take care of things and they don’t have anybody right now.” I spoke to her nurse about the room temperatures, and she said she would address it while confirming that they did not currently have anyone over maintenance. The last thing on my mind was going back to work full-time, but I thought over what she said for a couple of days and decided to send over my resume that Friday. I got a phone call the following Monday to come and interview and a week later I was offered the position.
Aunt Daisy returned as a patient in the fall of 2017, and I made it a point to include her in my daily rounds. She told me she was proud that I came and stayed with the hospital and how nice it was to see me every day. She passed away in February 2018, but I’ll never forget that last Christmas. My “work family” made it so special by arranging for my entire family of 23 to have a big dinner get-together with her at the hospital. I’m still working here because I care about all the other “Aunt Daisy’s and Uncle George’s” who need a room that’s safe and warm.”
