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Donna Jenkins
Arizona Health Care Association recently announced that Donna Jenkins was awarded the honor of being named CNA of the year for the State of Arizona, “She is my treasure of a person to work with, she is my rock of an employee to have on staff, she is the one that I always know I can turn to when I need something above and beyond done, and she has earned a place in my heart as being one of the finest, most compassionate CNA’s that I have ever had the pleasure of working with,” said Paula Mitchell, Nursing Home Administrator at Copper Mountain Inn, Globe, Ariz.
Every so often you will find a person that chooses to make a profession, a career, and a way of life by caring for others. They do this selflessly and they do this with their entire heart and soul, giving to others and caring for others in the way they would want to be treated themselves. Those are the ones that deserve to be honored as Certified Nursing Assistant of the Year. I have had the pleasure of working with this very person for the past seven years in my facility but she has been certified and has proudly held the position of Certified Nurse Assistant for over 20 years. Donna is not the person that shows up at work because it is her assigned day, only to give good care when needed, and treat people kindly. She is the one in a million CNA that truly puts her heart and soul into her work. She is here at work early, she is willing to stay late, she signs up for shifts on her days off if needed to make sure that residents get the type of care that they deserve and need. She goes above and beyond giving the required care that a CNA gives, Donna truly becomes family with the residents that she cares for.
Donna loves to pamper her residents, she came to administration with the idea of creating spa like bathing. She took on the shower times, and she truly does give residents a “spa” like bath, by spending the extra time to clip nails, and really fix hair pretty, applying some makeup and spritzes of perfume. All the little things that we ladies love, but unfortunately in a fast pace environment of a CNA, they do not always have time to deliver. She turned a shower time that residents dreaded into a time that they now are asking her when they get to go and bathe. These are just a couple of examples of ways that Donna has helped to improve the care given at our facility. She can always be found doing practical jokes with the residents that like to pull pranks, and laugh and enjoy life, she joins in on activities and is the object of much laughter when fun things are being done. She proudly tells everyone that she completed preceptor training and that she chose to be a CNA. She has suffered much personal tragedy in the past few years with the death of her husband, and yet she was still at work with a smile on her face and stated to me that she would rather be here with her family than to be at home crying over her loss. Donna is truly one in a million and I am blessed have her and truly feel that no one deserved the title of Certified Nursing Assistant of the Year more than Donna.
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