Strength in Passion

Carmelita’s story is one you hear about only in movies and books. She is one of our employees who has overcome a long battle with cancer and has managed to not only continue working, but has been able to help residents with the same health struggle.

When Carmelita began working as an admissions coordinator at Legends Care Center in Massillon, OH, she held a very personal secret from her co-workers. She was at the time, battling cancer. She was new and didn’t want to open up about her struggles. She instead, worked even harder and even continued school, studying to become a social worker.

Although Carmelita was quiet about her battle, her story did eventually break out. The resident Psychologist, Dr. Hshie heard about her illness and was blown away by her strength and determination with work and life. Dr. Hshie left a very special note for Carmelita on her birthday, admiring her, calling her a hero, and offering her support. Since that day, they have remained close friends. Dr. Hshie was strength for Carmelita and helped her through depression and anxiety associated with the disease.

Now that Carmelita is in remission (six years this month), she has put forth her knowledge and understanding of cancer to help residents and patients struggling with that same battle. There is one particular resident who Carmelita really took to. This resident was living on her own, and was nervous to go through chemotherapy. Carmelita took her to her appointments and accompanied her when she met with the doctors. Carmelita helped explain the treatments to the resident and even printed out what side effects she might experience. The resident is now doing really well thanks to Carmelita’s support and involvement.

Carmelita’s empathy and strength aren’t her only great qualities, or what makes her an amazing employee. She is also willing and able to take on any job at Legends Care Center. When asked about her day-to-day she said, “It’s crazy. I get here in the morning, I do morning reports, and then I spend the rest of the day with residents and meetings with their families – and now even some accounting!” Carmelita takes on whatever needs to be done and does it with pride. It is just one of the many reasons we are grateful to have her on our team.

Carmelita’s desire for her future is to stay right here, with her family at Legends. When asked what her favorite part of her job is, she replied, “The staff is amazing and the communication is excellent. It’s a family environment where I have best friends. And the residents – I can’t say enough about them”. She also said that out of our five Core Values, that Passion is the most important. “Without that you have nothing. If you’re not passionate about what you do and the people you care for, you should not be here”. We couldn’t agree more.