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Patty Gonneville is the Human Resources Director at Home Companions Association of New England, an Employer of Choice grant participant. Patty took on the role of HR Director as part of a long series of administrative changes at Home Companions, and after having worked in the field as a C.N.A. for thirteen years (the last two of those with HC). After receiving her C.N.A. certification in 1993, Patty worked in an assisted living center, a brain-injury rehabilitation center, and other home health care agencies. Although being an HR Director wasn’t a part of her original plans, she has found the work rewarding (if not at times overwhelming), and wants to continue doing it---provided she receives adequate training---for Home Companions. She wants to continue working in the field on an on-call basis, as that is where her heart lies.
Patty knew from an early age that she wanted to be in the home health care industry…..
Let me tell you something about my job. My “job” does not mean what I am doing now, specifically, not the exact company I work for, that is. My job started, or at least the thought of it started, when I was a Sawyer Elementary School student, many, many years ago. I got hurt on the playground, and had to go see the school nurse. I remember telling her, “I want to be like you when I grow up.” Several years later, while in Middle School, I remember being asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and I said, “A nurse!”
Her dreams did not end there…..
In my first year in High School, my grandfather became ill with cancer, and my mother and I took care of him until the day he died, in the summer before my Senior year. My friends always laughed at me because I chose to be with him, instead of going out with them. In my thoughts, I had all the time in the world to spend with them, but time with my grandfather, my best friend, would not always be there. After graduation, I worked at a Welby’s Drug Store. I was always happiest when talking with the elderly who shopped there.
She decided to make it her vocation….
After a while, I went on to C.N.A. school and took my first job as a C.N.A.. I never thought twice about wiping their bottoms, or got bothered when they yelled at me when their food was too cold or too hot. Instead, I thought about all the other moments; about the moments I made them laugh. In my job as a C.N.A. I met my “grandmother.” Not someone who was actually related to me, but who, in my heart, was everything a grandmother would be. It is that bond that keeps me doing what I do; not the business I am in, but the people I take care of.
And her passion will inspire her future….
If I were the “boss,” money and profits wouldn’t matter to me, and everyone would get the care they needed, and deserved, and be allowed to stay at home, in the environments they loved.
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