What I love about being a PTA is helping people. It sounds cliché, but the chance to help someone do more, learn more skills, or have better adaptive equipment to make my residents lives better is why I love doing what I do. I am able to teach staff to be better by ongoing trainings. I also teach and encourage families to help take care of their loved ones with home visits or taking them out to do fun things all together. Being able to be a part of my resident’s lives and live their best and worst moments together is such a big part of my love of what I do.
My biggest takeaway from Villa is that even though it was a college, there was always a feeling of “coming home” each time I stepped into the buildings and continue to step through those doors. They taught me patience, made my compassion and empathy grow, and they continue to be a huge reason that I am who I am today.
The advice that I have to future PTAs is to take care of each person that is coming to you for help as they are your own family members. Work with them patience, kindness, and reassurance. During the time with you, they will be scared, nervous, hesitant, but with your encouragement and compassion, you will change their lives in ways you never knew possible. You will be able to see their walls come down as they trust you more and do more of what you ask of them.
