Posts

Employee Spotlight: Gillian Lawrence focused on helping others

/in /
test

Gillian Lawrence is focused on helping others.

Whether she’s on the job or volunteering in the community, Gillian Lawrence is always doing good for others.

Homeland Center Activities Assistant Gillian Lawrence, left, enjoys a visit with residents Rosie Massaro and Ethel Boyer

“I’m very passionate about helping people, especially individuals who are not able to help themselves,” she says.

Lawrence is Homeland’s Activities Assistant, becoming a full-time employee in July 2016 after working part-time for two years. The Harrisburg native left the area as a teenager, attending high school in Providence, Rhode Island. After graduating, she returned to Harrisburg to help care for her older sister, who was battling pancreatic cancer and eventually succumbed to the disease.

She stayed in the city, building a close relationship with her sister’s five children. She studied early childhood education for a while, but her career trajectory changed when her mother suggested she apply for a job at Hamilton Health Center, the Harrisburg-based community health care provider. As HIV/AIDS educator, counselor, and case manager, she realized she could “give a little bit of hope to people in a devastating situation.”

“As soon as I started working in it, I found my niche,” she says now. “I didn’t want to be a nurse, but I noticed that I liked the education, awareness, and prevention side of health care.”

Now at Homeland, Lawrence’s goal is finding new ways to help residents enjoy their days and stay active. For the morning exercise class, she introduced kickball, and by the second day, residents were kicking the ball to each other like soccer pros.

“We’re giving them hope that there are still things to learn and that they’re able to do,” she says. “They like new things. They like new activities. I like to help make them happy in that moment or that day, if I can.”

Lawrence gets her ideas for activities from many sources, including the residents themselves. “One of the residents said they like to bowl,” she says, hinting at a future possibility.

With support from her husband, Marcellus Sumpter, Lawrence earned her associate’s degree in health care administration from University of Phoenix and is pursuing her bachelor’s degree from Central Penn College, majoring in health care management and minoring in business. Her athletically inclined 16- and 10-year-old sons and 5-year-old daughter keep her busy. So does volunteering to help the city Parks and Recreation department and LOOP BNG, a youth-activities organization, hold summer and after-school events for kids.

“The children in our city have so much potential,” she says. “A lot of them are talented, and there is a lack of programing for them. Kids need a positive outlet. They need people to pay attention to them.”

Lawrence gives 100 percent to her job at Homeland because “everyone’s like a family here.” And like her, Homeland is committed to the city of Harrisburg. “They could be anywhere, but you know what? They’re right here,” she says.

Lawrence was raised by a single mother, Carol Mitchell. Her mom, she knows, taught her to keep her priorities straight. “She taught me to put God first in all that you do,” she says.

Employee Spotlight: Kathy Kuchwara looks after Homeland’s feathered friends

/in /
test

Kathy Kuchwara looks after Homeland’s feathered friends!

Resident Mary Jane Baum noticed that the birds in Homeland’s second-floor aviary seemed to appreciate their new toys.

Homeland’s “Bird Lady,” RN Kathy Kuchwara, explains why birds love swings and millet to residents (from left) Mary Jane Baum and Peg Harnish.

“They love the swing,” agreed nurse Kathy Kuchwara. “They’re probably like people and the way we love to rock. For birds, maybe it’s the same type of thing.”

Kuchwara has been a registered nurse at Homeland since 2005, full-time until retiring and part-time in 2015. And while she performs such nursing duties as immunization audits and teaching CPR to staff, she is also known throughout Homeland as “The Bird Lady.”

That’s because the avid birdwatcher brings her knowledge about birding and bird care to Homeland, which has aviaries in the first-floor gathering room, second-floor solarium, and Ellenberger dementia care unit.

Kuchwara, of Hampden Township, started working in healthcare at age 16. Homeland excels because “the quality of life is very good,” she says. “I’m very happy to be here. The staffing ratios are better, and activities are very, very attuned to residents’ needs. They work on getting resident input on activities offered. It’s a lot of fun. It makes it very special.”

Kuchwara’s lifelong interest in birds took flight around 2006. Since joining the Appalachian Audubon Society, she has developed a cadre of friends with whom she takes birding trips. She might go to the shore, balmy Monterey, Canada in February, or somewhere in Central Pennsylvania, where the birding is excellent. She once took a day for birding while in Guatemala, and just when she despaired of seeing the rare pink-headed warbler, one popped out of the greenery to show off its bright colors.

Homeland’s investment in three aviaries provides a special treat for residents, who experience “that ability to get out of themselves and look at the birds and appreciate them,” said Kuchwara. For residents with dementia, birds can trigger fond memories.

“They might say, ‘I remember when I was a little girl, and we had a parakeet,’ or ‘I remember when I used to feed the birds, when we would throw seed out in the yard and all the birds would come,’” Kuchwara said.

Two of Homeland’s aviaries had been established when Kuchwara arrived, but she quickly took an indispensable role in maintaining them and helping the other staff who take care of daily food and water. She helps direct birds to veterinary care when needed. She answers questions about temperatures and the right kinds of toys. Sometimes, she’ll separate injured or ill birds from the others for their safety.

“Believe me; there were many days when I was here full-time that I shared my office with a little bird in a cage, just to monitor it,” she said. “When it got better, it would go back in the aviary.”

One day, Kuchwara was explaining to residents Mary Jane Baum and Peg Harnish that the service contracted to clean the aviaries had just installed new toys and hung millet.

“Millet to birds is like chocolate candy to us,” she explained.

Kuchwara is “a darling lady,” said Harnish. “She’s been a mainstay of the place, and I think she’s great.”

Baum said the birds are fascinating to watch, and told Kuchwara that she, too, had been a birder. Immediately, Kuchwara asked where Baum had gone birdwatching.

“The shore,” Baum said. “West Virginia. In Virginia, to the Peaks of Otter.”

It was just the kind of interaction the aviaries are meant to encourage.

“Our residents relate to the birds,” said Kuchwara. “It’s nice for them to be in that environment where they have the opportunity to see the birds and all that activity.”