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“Hospice is a way of life. This is just what I do now.”
— Kelly, CNA
Kelly has been a CNA at Minnesota Hospice for seven years.
When she joined the team, Minnesota Hospice was tiny, caring for just a handful of patients. Since then, she has watched the organization grow, the team expand, and the CNA department become what it is today.
What brought Kelly to a career in hospice was personal.
Both of Kelly’s parents received hospice care and she was her mother’s full-time caregiver.
She remembers how much that support mattered.
“I couldn’t have done it without them.”
— Kelly, CNA
Before joining Minnesota Hospice, Kelly spent ten years as a home health aide working with many different hospice organizations.
Now, after years with Minnesota Hospice, she knows the difference between basic hospice service and deeply personal care.
“Now that I know what good hospice looks like, I look back at what I thought was great back then. There’s so much more that can be done.”
— Kelly, CNA
What has kept Kelly at Minnesota Hospice is the people.
She has made lifelong friends here.
Staff health and mental health are taken very seriously. Employees are heard, supported, and cared for.
Kelly also believes the Minnesota Hospice team is different because so many staff members have lived it with someone they love. They understand firsthand why the care matters because they have been on the family side of it, too.
“A lot of us are in the same boat. We have a calling for Hospice. We’ve had a loved one on hospice, we’ve seen it, we’ve lived it, and we know how important it is.”
— Kelly, CNA
As a CNA, Kelly carries her own caseload of patients. Her role is intimately involved in the small details of daily care for patients.
For Kelly, every visit starts with two things that always go together: safety and dignity.
She talks about the little things that preserve people’s dignity: getting safely showered, clean, shaved, and fresh, even straightening a woman’s blouse so she feels like herself.
Kelly also thinks about how someone feels after a visit, helping a patient feel cared for in ways that others may not notice.
“Helping people with their dignity of looking good, being clean, feeling clean.”
— Kelly, CNA
Those small, daily moments of care matter because every person deserves to feel cared for.
She also wants people to understand that hospice care is not only about the final moments.
“A lot of people think because I’m in hospice, it’s just this end-of-life stuff, and it’s so much more than that.”
Kelly also wants the community to better understand what hospice actually is. She hears the same misconception often.
“There’s a lot of people out there that still think hospice is a death certificate. But it’s not like that.”
— Kelly, CNA
She describes a patient who had not been feeling well until the Minnesota Hospice team began caring for them. Their nurse adjusted medications, removed unnecessary ones, and now they feel significantly better than they have in years.
“We can’t control what’s happening in their body,” Kelly says. “But if someone feels better now, that’s what their loved ones will hopefully remember too.”
When families thank her, Kelly accepts it graciously. She doesn’t say it is just her job, because it is not.
“Hospice is a way of life. This is just what I do now.”
— Kelly, CNA
Looking back, Kelly is especially proud of what she helped build with Lidia, another CNA team member. When she joined Minnesota Hospice, Lidia was the only other CNA on the team and is now the organization’s longest-tenured employee. The two grew together, from CNAs to lead CNAs, and created a department with a clear standard of care for patients and their families.
“Lidia and I built the department together,” Kelly says. “We’ve got a strong team.”
That strong team matters so much because the care CNAs provide is incredibly close and personal. Patients and families need to feel safe. They need to trust the people coming into their rooms and homes. They need caregivers who understand that their dignity is protected in quiet, everyday moments
“We’re large enough to support everyone, yet small enough that we’re a community. When the employees are taken care of, we can better do our jobs.”
— Kelly, CNA
For Kelly, this is what has kept her here: the calling, the people, the care. And the belief that every patient deserves, safety, dignity, and comfort.
“Minnesota Hospice is really a unique place to work,” she says. “I can’t see working anywhere else.”
— Kelly, CNA
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