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(D. Lobkowicz photo) |
By Dominik Lobkowicz
For Elijah Curtis, going to work is not like work at all. He is employed as the head cook at Hodgdon Green, an elder home in Damariscotta, but Curtis has spent the last two years building deeper relationships with the residents and his co-workers.
Curtis was one of 15 caregivers statewide honored in September with a Celebrating Excellence in Caregiving Award by the Maine Health Care Association.
Originally from South Carolina, Curtis moved to Maine in 2005 after coming to visit a long-lost brother. On the recommendation of his daughter, a former Hodgdon Green employee, Curtis applied and was hired on as the home’s cook in 2011.
“I came here to cook, but I find myself not just cooking,” Curtis said. He sings and dances with the residents, and during breakfast time goes from table to table swapping stories.
Gertrude Allen, one of the residents, said Curtis is the best. “He tells us stories that are very, very interesting from way back when he was a child,” she said.
Asked if she believes all the stories Curtis shares, Allen said with a grin, “Some I do, some I don’t.”
Curtis said he benefits from the experiences and stories shared by the residents as well.
“They educated me in parts of life I hadn’t even touched at 57 years old,” Curtis said.
Curtis and the residents lift each other up, and it makes him feel good to see a smile on their faces, he said. “It’s like one big family, we depend on each other,” he said.
A very affable man, Curtis exudes the appreciation he says he has for the residents.
Curtis said he has met the residents’ families and tries to throw big cookouts several times a year so the families can all come visit at once.
Even the employees are not like co-workers, but are more like brothers and sisters, Curtis said.
“It’s not an institution,” Curtis said of Hodgdon Green. “This is like home.”
As a step to help connect the residents and the community, Curtis started a monthly event called “Elijah’s Coffee House” where community members are welcome to come in and share coffee, pastries, and fresh fruit with the residents.
That connection with the community lifts the residents even further, he said. All are welcome, and the event is held from 9 to 11 a.m. on the first Friday every month.
Curtis said he loves his job, and could not think of a single bad thing to say about it. He recalls about six months ago someone asking him lots of specific questions about his job, and discovered they were trying to recruit him to another facility.
“I make enough money here to care of my family and be comfortable,” Curtis said. Perhaps 20 years ago he could have been enticed, but “the dollar bill can’t pull me away because I got more to give than the price of money,” he said.
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First Lady Ann LePage (center) and Hodgdon Green Assistant Administrator Gayle Webber at the award ceremony in September. (Photo courtesy Maine Health Care Association) |
When Curtis found out he was getting his caregiving award, he thought his wife was pulling his leg. They had been joking with each other that day, and as his wife read off the award when she was going through the mail, Curtis thought she was still joking.
“I said, ‘I don’t believe you,’ took it out of her hand and sure enough, it was,” Curtis said.
Curtis said he is honored by and appreciates the recognition.
“My mother told me, ‘Boy, be careful what you do and say in life, because every eye closed is not shut,’ and it’s true, people are watching,” he said.
Kerry Genthner, one of Curtis’s co-workers, or sisters as he might say, said Curtis “is absolutely wonderful. He just lights the place up when he’s here.”
Genthner described Curtis as a wonderful, caring cook, and as very involved with the residents’ lives.
“Even though he’s just the cook, he’s one of the caregivers also,” she said.
Curtis said the residents at Hodgdon Green need compassion, an ear to talk to, feedback, laughter, and smiles. “I’m the cook here, that’s my job title, but they can’t survive on food alone,” he said.
