Tag Archive for: Employee Spotlight

Michael Quinones bringing smiles to residents and colleagues at Homeland Center.

In the business of transporting retirement-community residents, it pays to keep up with current events.

“I’m like a tour guide,” says Homeland Center Transportation Coordinator Michael Quinones. “Residents want to know what buildings are under construction and what’s happening around town.”

Michael shares such news as Harrisburg’s new federal courthouse going up near Homeland, while the residents share their memories of city history.

“We go past a building, and they say there was a bookstore there,” says the Harrisburg native. “I had no clue.”

Michael has worked in retirement communities his whole career, starting in the kitchen of a local facility. In 2003, a friend suggested he apply for an opening as a Homeland dietary aide. He got the job but never worked in the kitchen, because Homeland called and asked if he would take a maintenance position instead. It was an on-the-job learning experience. Even if he never quite gained the expertise of a famous home fix-it show host, he became adept at helping out wherever needed.

“Fixing broken wheelchairs, broken beds,” he says. “You name it; I was doing it. Hanging pictures. Painting. Scrubbing floors. Taking out trash. Every day was something different. I learned as I went along. I’m not Bob Vila, but I try.”

He held that post for about four years until asked if he would like to be a Homeland driver. With his friendly disposition, it felt like a perfect fit.

“The residents knew me,” he says. “They’re comfortable with me. Any opportunity you get, you take it. So, I took it.”

As transportation coordinator, Michael schedules trips for residents to medical appointments and shopping. He transports eyeglasses and hearing aids for repairs. He drives residents on outings to restaurants and shows.

“I like to help the residents get out for a while,” he says. “Even if it’s a doctor’s appointment, they like to be out and seeing the scenery. I like to see the residents smile.”

As they’re out and about, they “talk about everything.” Sometimes, they might be near a resident’s old neighborhood, and he’ll drive through the block while they reminisce. Most gratifying is when he takes residents to family functions where they get to see grandkids and great-grandkids.

“I try to make it as comfortable and as easy as possible,” he says.

Michael credits his parents, Carlos and Virginia Quinones, for teaching him the value of hard work. His dad is retired as chief of security for New Cumberland Army Depot. His mother is nearing retirement from the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. People tell him he’s just like his mother, who has also worked part-time as an aide for the elderly.

“That’s where I get my compassion,” he says. “She wears her heart on her sleeve.”

Homeland administration provides Michael the support he needs to get his job done, even during challenging times. When he was helping care for his mother-in-law while she was dying from breast cancer in 2017, Homeland directors “were always understanding. They never told me no. They always said, ‘You do what you need to do.’ It was a lot less stress for me.”

In the summer, Michael enjoys tending his garden of tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. Those veggies get grilled during regular family cookouts. Michael’s wife of more than four years, Marlai Paxton-Quinones, wears many hats as director of economic and neighborhood development at the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg.

Michael brings his family focus to Homeland. He treats residents like grandparents, and they treat him like a grandson. Co-workers also share a family feel throughout the building. His niece works in the Homeland kitchen, and it seems that all staff are connected through family and community ties for an atmosphere where “everyone knows someone who knows someone.”

“I love working here,” he says. “It’s like a family environment, from employees to residents. It’s not like a 9-to-5 job where you just swipe the clock. Everyone knows everyone by name. It makes it a fun place to work.”

Lead CNA Rebeccah DeVan enjoying a moment in the Ellenberger conservatory.

Rebeccah DeVan’s grandfather, in declining health, called his home care aides “featherweights.”

“Honey,” he’d tell them. “I don’t want to get you fired, but go get my grandbaby.”

That was Rebeccah’s introduction to nursing, helping care for her grandparents in their later years. She realized she enjoyed caring for others. Employed by an insurance company, she needed to get out of the cubicle and “talk to some real people, and not just on the phone.” She trained through the Tri-County OIC Adult Learning Center in Harrisburg and took her first CNA job at Homeland.

“I can say I’ve been blessed to start at Homeland,” she says. “You definitely realize the quality of care here.”

Rebeccah is a lead CNA in Homeland Center’s 24-bed Ellenberger Unit, which treats those with advancing memory impairment. The unit is part of Homeland’s continuum of care that includes Personal Care, Skilled Care, Rehabilitation Services and Homeland at Home services including Hospice, HomeCare and HomeHealth.

Rebeccah learned her approach to nursing from one of her grandmothers, her “granny,” a registered nurse at the former Pennsylvania State Hospital. Granny’s words still ring in her ears: “You treat others how you want them to treat you. Remember that could be me there.”

As lead CNA, Rebeccah provides care for residents and also trains new CNAs in their duties and expectations.

Growing up in Harrisburg with five siblings, Rebeccah was part of a large, extended family, with grandparents, aunts, and uncles all within walking distance. Friday night fish fries were drop-in affairs featuring her mom’s homemade fresh flounder stuffed with crab, coleslaw on the side.

Her life continues to revolve around her family of five children and three grandchildren, including a newborn granddaughter. When her 5-year-old grandson plays football, she is “definitely one of the grannies running along the sidelines.”

She has another family at Homeland, not just colleagues but residents she deems grannies, aunts, and cousins. Deb Kivler, whose husband Herb is an Ellenberger “cousin,” was enjoying the Ellenberger solarium when Rebeccah came by. Deb says she appreciates the familial care Rebeccah provides.

“She is so thoughtful and takes such good care of everyone,” says Deb. “We just love her.”

In Ellenberger, Rebeccah sees her role as organizer and peacemaker. The other CNAs say she’s “always in Mom mode.”

“I want everyone to communicate and be respectful,” she says. “I’m big on respect. If we can’t respect each other, then it’s not going to be smooth. Respect will take you much further than trying to be nasty.”

Working in dementia care requires constant adaptation to ever-changing circumstances, and Rebeccah wouldn’t have it any other way.

She first worked at Homeland from 2003 to 2009. Then she worked in other settings for several years, but she had trouble convincing management to meet the high standards she knew from Homeland. That’s where she recognized that, even without such supports as adequate supplies for the nursing staff, she loved the work she was doing.

“My heart is with the dementia unit,” she says. “I can honestly say I enjoy it.”

Her path wound its way back to Homeland in December 2015.

“Everybody at Homeland cares, from the top on down,” she says. “I look at it as a family. Everyone plays a role in the family.”

Ellenberger is the right size for getting to know the residents, and all colleagues share her passion for caregiving.

“I like that everyone here is concerned about residents’ well-being,” Rebeccah says. “I like being hands-on, and I need to work in a place where everybody enjoys their job just as much as I do. You can feel the concern and the love.”