This column continues a series in which Amy Koch describes the Charles Ford Retirement Community by introducing one of its committed caregivers.
Connie Tousley is the Ms. Fixit of the Charles Ford Retirement Community in New Harmony. With her many years of experience in facility management, and education in direct resident care, along with expertise gained from hands on facility maintenance, Connie is the “go to person” when something isn’t operating as it should.
But New Harmony wasn’t in the plan! Nine years ago, Connie and her partner, Patti, were traveling across country and stopped for a weekend in New Harmony during their search for a place to relocate. They were contemplating a move from Colorado back to the Midwest. Their intent was to settle near Paducah, KY, where Connie had lived as a child, a permanent move that would put them closer to their families. While only expecting a brief visit here, during those 72 hours, both decided that perhaps, this community was where they should live.
A priority for Connie was to escape from the stress of facility maintenance in a multiple unit assisted living system. Not the first extremely capable individual who had endured employment stress, Connie sought respite in the independent outdoor work of landscaping. Possessing so many other skills, however, she eventually was enticed back to facility maintenance accepting a job painting exterior trim on the Charles Ford building on South Main Street. She says it was there that she fell in love with what she describes as a “baby building” and although she had wanted to escape from health care, she began to wonder what it would be like to work in this much smaller facility.
Amy Koch, the Ford community executive director, says Connie was hired because she has experience in managing all of the aspects of assisted living. “She is both brilliant and customer oriented in her response to people, which makes our staff, our residents and their families feel both valued and genuinely helped. A veteran of the U.S. Army, Connie is a Qualified Medication Aide (QMA) and a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) with in-depth experience in assistant living maintenance and management. We are very fortunate to have her broad based expertise.”
Connie smiles when she explains that her skills in maintenance were first acquired under her Aunt Sarah Hamilton’s tutelage in Nashville, TN. Summer stays with Aunt Sarah during high school years included fundamental training in how to paint, hang wallpaper, and perform other interior maintenance assignments. “Aunt Sarah owned a highly sought-after interior design business with such notable clients as Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner and Ricky Skaggs,” Connie explains. “I was never allowed to do any work in those homes – only the very skilled went to work with Aunt Sarah! Yet, while working for her, I was taught what to wear (all white coveralls) and that you didn’t talk while on the job. It was during those summer months that I learned to appreciate the value of having home maintenance skills.”
Krista Emhuff, Admission Coordinator at the Charles Ford Retirement Community, describes Connie as ‘unique and exquisite’ in everything she does. “She can fix anything, and she doesn’t cut corners,” Krista says. “Besides that, she’s an amazing artist and talented guitar playing vocalist. She has wonderful gifts and is so modest about them.”
In response to the accolades, Connie concludes by summing up her feelings about New Harmony and the Charles Ford home. “I feel I’m supposed to be here; I found my way back to healthcare.”
