During her June lecture at the New Harmony Working Men’s Institute, Amy Koch, executive director at the Charles Ford Retirement Community, was asked to define the Ford Home’s unique culture. Her answer focused on the relationships that develop between caregivers and the residents in this series describing the Community by introducing its staff.
Lovingly teasing others during staff meetings comes naturally at the Charles Ford Retirement Community. Amy Koch, the executive director, explains it as one way of sharing in the experience and support that’s required to face the daily tasks and privilege of caring for aging individuals with various needs and different personalities.
So, when asked to describe this month’s featured member, it wasn’t a surprise when Connie Toursley, head of maintenance, declared, “Audra knows the Guy.” Others chimed in warmheartedly explaining how Registered Nurse Audra Sollars’ personal walk in faith has impacted them and the community’s residents. “She is our shining light,” Koch said.
Growing up on a farm in Vigo County, Audra is the eldest of six children, and as such, learned to be a caregiver at a very early age. But it is was a high school experience that provided the opportunity to “intern” in two areas of health care, nursing and physical therapy, at Terre Haute’s Union Hospital that would set the course for her lifework. Shortly after graduation, she entered Indiana State University and upon receiving her nursing degree began her health care career in the chest pain unit at the hospital where she had interned. Several years later, during a “downsizing of staff,” Audra transferred to the hospital’s surgical step-down unit and continued to care for seriously ill patients for several years.
Audra believes she discovered the meaning of true humility on a mission trip to Uganda during the early years of her career. “Looking back, “I know the act of sharing my faith with those who had such great physical need and yet possessed such deep spiritual strength made a lasting impression on me,” she said. “The trip to Africa was transformational. “I knew then I wanted to continue this work with other health care professionals who were motivated to minister in the same way.”
Nursing School wasn’t the only thing that started for Audra during the summer after high school graduation; that’s when she met Tony Sollars, her future husband. They were married two years later and in the thirty years that have passed, they haven’t ventured far from the lifestyle of her ancestors, generational farmers. Today, the Sollars live on farmland north of Griffin, Indiana, and during “peak” season, share it with 9,000 hogs, a few sheep, and an assortment of other animals, including their Australian Shepherd named Trinity. Empty nesters now, they are parents to adult sons, Briar, 23, married and working as a strength and conditioning trainer at West Vigo High School, and Gabe, 19, a freshman attending Indiana University on a Division I wrestling scholarship.
On this workday, the staff meeting concludes when someone mentions that Audra sprinkles joy dust! “We sometimes call her Naughty Audie,” they say, “but she’s totally authentic, not judgmental and always strives for excellence.” Amy Koch sums up all the comments with “Audra sacrifices self to care for others.”
