“We could live a thousand lifetimes if we just sit and listen to our elderly” ~ Plan A PSW Candidate.

This past September, I had the privilege of joining our Recruitment Team in Southwestern Ontario and while I was there I met a number of A-mazing candidates for our staff pool. As you may already know, Plan A only hires the absolute best, and while we interview hundreds of candidates across the province on a weekly basis we typically only hire 65% of those who apply. Our screening process is thorough, allowing us to maintain the promise and commitment that our partners will only receive the best staff when they need them.

During an interview in Windsor, ON, I met a newly licenced Registered Nurse who had also worked as a Personal Support Worker. There was just something about her. I listened to her share experiences about her travel and education. She was ideal for the position already and then she uttered a few words that have stuck with me since. She said: “We could live a thousand lifetimes if we just sit and listen to our elderly.” This really hit home for me and I couldn’t help but share what she said with my network on LinkedIn and Twitter. Needless to say, after jumping through all of the hoops in our recruitment process, this lovely young nurse was hired to work with our Windsor team.

These are the characters we look for in a Plan A team member. These are the people we would trust taking care of our parents or grandparents. This is the compassion that our residents living in long term care deserve and should expect.

In the day to day work of a PSW, RPN and RN, the hours can be long and the work can be physically and emotionally exhausting but what a gift it is to provide care to those who have paved the way for us. Our nurses and PSWs are privileged with each and every shift opportunity they are provided. While finding the time to sit and listen is a challenge some days, sentiments, inspiration and many stories are shared over meal time, bath time, medication administration and assessments. We have so much to learn from our elders and if we can all just take a moment to listen, we could share the experience of living a thousand life times over and over again.