The halls of the Emanuel Medical Center Nursing Home have a new ray of sunshine beaming through them with the addition of Missy Mills as the Activities Director for the facility.
“I started this position in June. I was a teacher at DEA, and I had just graduated from Georgia Southern with a degree in public administration and sociology,” Mills said. “I thought I was going to continue to be a teacher until God opened some doors for me.”
That calling was coming from the EMC Nursing Home and it presented Mills with an exciting opportunity and a new challenge.
“I thought, ‘This is what I prayed for,’ and I came in here with an open mind and having no idea what to do,” Mills said. “I just fell in love with the residents and realized that this is their home, and God has me here to brighten their life and see the world beyond just being in a room all day.”
It's impossible to not have a smile on your face when you are spending time with Mills, and she has brought that joy to the residents of the nursing home. Mills is greeted in the morning by excited and inquiring minds, wanting to know what the next activity is going to be.
“For me, my job is the fun job,” Mills said. “It takes a village to run this place, everybody’s job is important. I’m the fortunate one, they look at me for fun. This lady is not taking care of me, not telling me what to do or what not to do, it’s ‘what are we going to do today?’”
Mills said she presents the residents with a number of different activities including exercising, playing games, going outside, or cooking. The activities help the residents enjoy the simple pleasures in life while also having independence.
“We go on our country rides, we go to Dairy Queen, we’ve cooked croissants, we’ve made banana pudding,” Mills said. “A big thing is bingo; they take bingo very seriously. The community helps out a lot with donations for our bingo store. The residents can go and shop at the bingo store from the money they earn from bingo.”
For Mills, the joy she derives from her job comes from the joy she sees in her residents. “To see them light up, I forget I’m working. I love it here every day. It’s an amazing feeling to see how much the simple things we can take for granted brings them every day. The most important thing is making sure that they are happy, that they feel like they have a say, that they feel independent. We are working here in their home, and we want to make sure it feels like a home. They need to be able to do the things they want to do.”
Mills recognizes that for many of the residents, the EMC Nursing Home is where they will spend the rest of their lives, and she takes it as her responsibility to make those years the best that they can be.
“That is my goal, is to be a dream maker,” Mills explained. “For some of them, this is their last home, I want to make sure that they have done some things on their bucket list that they want to do. It takes all of us here, and I am very thankful for my work family.”
