Homeland Financial Assistant Sonia Miralda

Attention to detail is a hallmark of Homeland’s excellence, and it starts in the finance office.

“A number, a letter, a point, or a dot somewhere can mean a mistake in the information,” said Sonia Miralda, a Homeland financial assistant. “You need to have that on your mind when you send something out. You need to have the correct information.”

While residents experience attentive care, they and their families enjoy peace of mind knowing that the financial wheels are turning smoothly.

Miralda was working at another area nursing home when two former co-workers who had joined Homeland approached her about an opening.

“I applied, and everything has been awesome,” she said. Her job includes accounts payable, paying Homeland at Home invoices, sending bills to cover residents’ therapies, ensuring that residents and their families get copies to keep track.

In an office where changes come every day, teamwork is Miralda’s favorite part of the job.

“I can come with a question to any team member, and I will get a correct answer,” she said. “It’s always a time for growing, always knowing something new. I am not afraid to go to anyone when I’m in doubt about anything.”

Miralda likes to laugh with her colleagues, too. They sometimes “take 10 minutes to sit down and think of new ways to do things. When we’re eating lunch, we’re always talking about how we can be better.”

Even though Miralda is not a frontline staffer, she enjoys interacting with Homeland residents. When the pandemic first shut down communal dining, she delivered breakfast to residents’ rooms.

“It was a change, of course, but it was delightful to go and help and take their meals and discuss things like what they were eating,” she said. “I never miss the opportunity to visit with residents.”

Residents are always eager to ask Miralda about her home country of Honduras.
“They want to know where I’m from and what’s different about it,” she said. “I guess I’m a pot of knowledge for them. I’m happy to talk to all of them. It seems like something different for them, and their interest is special to me.”

Miralda’s American journey started when she was 19. On vacation to the U.S. in 1986, she realized she wanted to stay. She found a sponsor family, living and traveling with them while learning the language. She loves the U.S. for its freedom and safety.
“You can speak your mind, and some people will like it and some will not, but that is their business,” she said. “I do appreciate that very much here.”

She misses her family and calls her mother in Honduras daily. She enjoys telling people about the ideal weather of her native country, but she saw her move to America as an adventure.

Miralda and her husband of 35 years, Pablo, moved to central Pennsylvania from the Washington, D.C. area when they were expecting their first child, a son who is now 24 years old. Her husband, an electrical engineer for a Carlisle machine products company, is the home handyman. Miralda is famous for her potato salad but always ready to try something new and create unique flavors.

She said she appreciates the level of communications from Homeland management at work – something she didn’t experience with her previous employer. She has told her husband that if they ever move, they will have to find a home between their jobs because she isn’t about to leave Homeland.

“I am so happy here,” she said. “I’m not willing to look for another job. I’m as comfortable as can be.”