Bueno Bye Taos

You know the saying, “The two best days of any job are the first day and the last day.” Well, today is the bittersweet last day for me at Mountain Home Health Care, as my family will be moving to Berkely, CA in the weeks ahead. And it’s a tender thing to say goodbye to the Taos community and all the wonderful people I’ve met in the last few years. It’s especially emotional to say goodbye to the staff at Mountain Home Health Care. The nurses, therapists, CNAs, caregivers, and the administrative staff, who all work together to ensure that members of our community receive the best care available. As the office manager, I spent a lot of time answering phones from concerned community members and their families. Many callers were recovering from a procedure or suffered from chronic illness and they didn’t know how to get the help they needed. Questions about healthcare and health insurance can be intimidating for many people. Walking these callers through the steps to get the help they needed was one of the best things about my job. I am not a medical professional, but having worked here the last few years gave me insight into the processes that makes the system work. Hearing the caller’s voice change from trepidation to encouraged by the end of the call was one my greatest rewards.

And that’s what I loved about Mountain Home Health Care. As a nonprofit, we put the care of our patients first. Sometimes when I meet someone new and they learn that I work at Mountain Home Health Care, they might say something like, “oh, you took care of my mother when she was sick. You guys were great.” That kind of affirmation was all I needed to hear to know that our work means something. So, I will miss this caring agency and its staff, but I will also miss the many voices from the community. These voices taught me about compassion, sympathy, and strength, and most of all they taught me what love for one another sounds like.