A familiar face at Taber Hospital will now be absent following a retirement party held earlier this month. Helen Hendricks, manager of the extended care unit since 2005, has been a fixture at the hospital for two decades.
“I’ve worked there for 20 years. I started in 1990. I worked as an RN for 15 years, and a nursing unit manager for five.”
Hendricks only got back into the profession after a long hiatus as a farm wife and mother.
“I did a refresher in 1990. I had been out of nursing for 20 years to raise my family, and then I did a refresher and came back to nursing in 1990.”
Residents, family and friends gave Hendricks a surprise farewell at the extended care facility earlier this month.
“I was absolutely overwhelmed. It was such a surprise, because my request had been to just keep it really low key. I was just going to walk around and visit with families and residents and have a little tea and a little cake, and it will be great. So, that’s what I was expecting, and I was completely relaxed. In fact, that morning my husband said to me, ‘That little thing this afternoon, do I need to be there?’ And I said, ‘Oh, no, it’s just a real low key kind of retirement thing from the residents and families,’ and it turned out to be huge.”
Working with and caring for a great variety of people is often challenging, but for Hendricks it has also fostered a sense of fulfillment.
“I think what made working in Taber continuing care so special was meeting people. I’ve often said to the staff in the last five years, ‘Can you believe that you have a job where the focus is to make life as good as you can for people who can no longer do that for themselves?’ That’s what keeps you going. The residents are really incredible, and we have every ounce of respect for where they have come from, and they make the job really meaningful.”
In retirement, Hendricks is looking forward to giving back to a community she feels has given her so much.
“One big focus will be to spend more time with my grandchildren. We’ll do some traveling. And we also want to get involved in volunteering in the community, because this community had embraced us. We’ve lived here now for eight years, and it’s a beautiful community and we would like to give back in the area of volunteering, wherever we can put our energies to.”
The upcoming move to a new facility on Taber’s north end, now under construction, and the subsequent shut-down of the current extended care facility will be an end of an era at the Taber Health Centre.
“I am just appreciative to all of them for their different personalities that has taught me many things, and I just wish everybody — especially with the move coming, I just wish the residents real peace and calmness as they go over there,” said Hendricks.
Despite looking forward to retirement, Hendricks admits there will be days she wishes she was back on the floor.
“I’m going to miss many things about it, there’s no doubt. It can’t be that big a part of your life, and then walk away without missing many aspects of it. And it’s the people — it’s always the people that you miss.”
Before taking on her career as a nurse in the early 1990s, Hendricks had other important duties.
“We’ve farmed south of Grassy Lake since 1965, so that’s been my life. I was raised in Coaldale. I graduated from nursing in Lethbridge at the Galt School of Nursing in 1966, and then moved to Grassy Lake, and that’s where we’ve spent all these years. It was a family farm, and every family member on the farm is important. I drove combine, I helped my husband with whatever needed to be done. That was a great life as well. I really enjoyed that part of my life, and have really enjoyed this part as well.”
Family and friends will make up for anything she might be losing, adds Hendricks.
“I’m a very blessed person. I have a loving family, and I want to spend time with them. I’m just the happiest person alive.”