Health Care Aides are Special People!

To honour Health Care Aide Day on October 18, we’re featuring one of Optima Living’s wonderful Health Care Aides (HCA), Markus Ewert, who works at The Hamlets at Vernon, where he started as a Personal Support Worker before becoming a registered care aide in August 2023.

Markus is described as everything you could hope for in an HCA: calm, positive, hard-working; “a delightful human”.

“When he arrived at the Hamlets as an HCAP hire, he immediately brought an energy to the whole building. He treats everyone he meets as an instant friend, engaging with them in joy and laughter. Markus is eager to learn new skills and uses his whole effort in everything he does,” said the Director of Care at The Hamlets at Vernon, Jackie Engelage.

Markus works on all the long-term care floors at the Hamlets. “My residents vary from completely independent to full care, from completely cognitive to the final stage of dementia,” he explained. “I love each and everyone of my residents and really thrive in long-term care compared to the other fields that I have worked in.”

Markus hails from Germany, where he had earned a 3-year nursing degree. When he came to Canada, however, he discovered that it wasn’t transferable. Once he became a permanent resident, he made the decision to go to school full-time and complete the Health Care Access Program.

“I feel like it is a very fulfilling occupation and the gratefulness and appreciation the residents give back is something that makes me enjoy being in healthcare. Seeing long-term care residents making progress in physio, cognitively, or any other areas of their life, is the best thing to witness and be part of,” he explained.

“Celebrating the smallest and biggest successes, making residents smile and their day better by simply putting in effort on the job is what makes me love being a Health Care Aide!” Markus added.

Markus exemplifies Optima Living’s core values of respect, dignity, teamwork, and doing the right thing.

“First and foremost, I appreciate his willingness to always help regardless of where we need it,” said Ashely Vigue, HR Assistant at The Hamlets at Vernon.

“He has a way of calming the waters around him just by being there. He never lets a resident feel ill at ease no matter what is going on,” she added. “He has a person-centred, holistic approach with residents, which is what we are aiming for.”

Markus clearly follows our North Star: Let us welcome you home.

Thank you, Markus, and thanks to all the Health Care Aides who make the lives of the people in our residences better! We couldn’t do it without you!