Linda Ogilvie has dedicated more than half of her 40-year career in health care to looking after residents at St. Mary’s Health Care Centre in Trochu, starting as a health care aide before becoming a registered nurse.
There are several reasons she’s devoted so much of her career to the same site. One is a strong personal connection. Linda’s grandmothers were residents at the site when she first worked there in the 1990s before she took an overseas nursing stint in Saudi Arabia. In 2002, she returned to St. Mary’s Health Care Centre and has been there ever since.
“It was home, and I knew people here,” says the registered nurse. “Community is what brought me back to St. Mary’s.
“It’s a family-oriented place. We all know a bit about each other, and we care what happens to each other. I came for the job; I stayed for the ‘family’ and the camaraderie. The team at St. Mary’s is a very strong team.”
While she’s experienced many highs in her nursing career, Linda says the most gratifying aspect of her job is when she hears directly from residents.
“I feel appreciated when they tell me things like ‘I really like it when you come on.’ And it’s especially nice to hear dementia residents say ‘I’m really happy that you’re here’ or ‘I’m happy that I see you’ because they don’t recognize you sometimes.”
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