KENTUCKY SENIOR LIVING ASSOCIATION 2022 AWARDS

Angela started her career working in IT, but after having a child, she decided to go back to school to get her nursing degree. While in school she decided to take a job working at a local long-term care facility because the experience would be helpful. An unexpected accident turned her career path toward Life Enrichment, where she found her passion in helping her residents to continue making memories and living new experiences.

Angela is a Step Above!

Angela is always willing to jump in and help wherever needed and continues to pivot and lead her team by example.  She is sure to offer a smile and words of encouragement to everyone she meets.  She is passionate about what she does and every decision she makes is always made in the best interest of the residents and staff.

Activity Director, Paula White says, “Angela is always advocating for us and doing most of the hard work to make us shine. She is such a strong leader.”

Angela came to Sayre Christian Village in July 2020, during the pandemic. She worked side-by-side with other team members as they battled what felt like a losing battle. She watched her residents, team and co-workers grow weary and tired. After the first year of the pandemic, she recognized her residents and the people she works with everyday needed a way to let go of the hard battle they had been fighting nonstop.

“I don’t know what I would have done without Angela. She was the backbone of our team during confusing and scary times.  She had calmed us and led us with confidence and grace, ” said Mark Sparkman.

When Spring rolled around, we were ready to put the hard months of COVID behind us. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the first COVID positive resident, Angela led her team in organizing the Sayre Christian Village, Give it to God Day.

Her idea was an innovation that benefitted the mental health of all the staff that participated! Staff felt lighter after attending and were able to shed some of the weight of the past months.

Give it to God Day

Angela developed a plan of events for the day and what would need to be done to symbolize each step of release.

First, they would leave their mark by placing their thumb print to form the leaves of a beautiful painting that hangs on campus.

They would burn symbols of the past to release it into the wind and break items to relieve the tension that the yearlong fight had left on us all.

They would then leave a memory in a time capsule that would be buried on campus under a tree that would be planted that would always represent the staff and residents on the Sayre Christian Village Campus.

For the day to happen, Angela had to get Senior Leadership on board. She explained to them how it would work, how they would safely be able to burn and break items. She researched trees and found The Wildfire Black Gum Tree is known for its strength and resilience, just like the people at Sayre. Leadership loved her idea!

It took a lot of preparing, organization and working with other departments to make the day a success.

She worked with Maintenance to make sure the burn barrel was done with proper fire safety codes and they worked together picking out the Sayre Tree and planting it.  Angela helped get every department on campus involved in the planning, and therefore had full participation that day.

When “Give it to God Day” rolled around and the weather decided not to cooperate, Angela didn’t falter. She led her team with a smile and the day went off without one single issue! It was healing rain that fell that day!

Putting COVID Behind Us

Break Station:  Staff released worry and stress from inside their bodies and minds.

Sometimes we must give ourselves permission to let go. We often hold tension we don’t even recognize. Staff each chose an item or two to throw against a wall and break!

Burn Barrel: Staff burned masks & gowns and wrote messages to throw into the flames.

Tree of Life: Residents and Staff left their mark on the Tree of Life. Every leaf on the tree of life was made by residents and staff at Sayre Christian Village to show their resiliency to live through the past year.

Tree Planting: Staff planted a Wildfire Black Gum Tree that is known for its strength, resilience, and the beautiful color the leaves turn in the Fall. The perfect tree to represent the staff at Sayre Christian Village.

Rock Garden:  Residents and Staff painted rocks with a name of someone we lost or a memory of the last year. Those rocks make a rock garden that surrounds the Wildfire Black Gum Tree that now grows on campus on campus.

Time Capsule: Staff filled a time capsule with pictures, letters, and mementos from the year and buried it near the Wildfire Black Gum Tree.

Thank You, Angela

“Angela does so much that is never seen. Her experience in the activities field is such an asset, especially to staff like me, who still have much to learn about our field,” said Housing Activity Director, Sara Beth Floyd.

Angela’s inspiring vision has leveled-up our programing for residents. We appreciate all her hard work, how she is always going above and beyond with her efforts, and her dedication to the mission and residents!  We are blessed to have her at the helm of the Life Enrichment Department!

Want to know more about careers at Sayre Christian Village? Join our Award-Winning Team!