MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - In a headline to a member exchange story May 3 about a caregiver, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Rosalina Nygaard is a nurse. She is a certified nursing assistant.
A corrected version of the story is below:
Moscow caregiver treating others the way she wants to be treated
When she first came to the Palouse in 2007, Rosalinda Nygaard was reeling from the death of her husband of six years
By ALYSEN BOSTON
Moscow-Pullman Daily News
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - When she first came to the Palouse in 2007, Rosalinda Nygaard was reeling from the death of her husband of six years.
With her three daughters in tow, Nygaard hoped to start over where her husband, Joshua, grew up, bringing them closer to their grandparents in the process.
Ten years later, Nygaard, a certified nursing assistant, spends her days caring for the residents of the Good Samaritan Society of Moscow. She started working in the field in 1995.
“As a CNA, I can give the residents respect, you know, in the way that my parents taught me to respect (elders),” Nygaard said. “(The staff and residents) are like my second family. When I get home, I have a family up here at home, but there, they’re like my family, too.”
Earlier this month, Nygaard was selected as the 2018 National Caregiver Champion for GSS Way, an annual award ceremony hosted by the Society at their operations conference in Sioux Falls, S.D. Along with her daughters, Nygaard will attend the weeklong conference starting June 25.
The GSS Way Champion awards honor employees and volunteers who embody the Society’s core values, including compassion, humility and courage, according to the event’s 2016 brochure.
“It’s about what you do for the resident, how you touch them, the way you respect them, how you talk to their family,” Nygaard said. “This award, it’s everything to me. I am so grateful. It’s really meaningful to me because I’ve been doing this for such a long time.”
In February 1990, Nygaard emigrated from the Philippines to live with her aunt in Santa Maria, Calif. It was there she began her career as a nursing assistant, and she later met her future husband at the nursing home where they both worked.
Nygaard said she always wanted to be a nurse, but motherhood took up the majority of her time. She decided instead to earn her certification as a nursing assistant.
“The residents are just so nice to work with,” she said. “I want someone to respect me, to treat me like I treat them, when I get older.”
Nygaard said nursing gives her the opportunity to be her best self.
“I love what I do as a CNA. It’s so rewarding,” Nygaard said. “It gives me peace of mind that, someday, when I’m up there - I don’t know if I’m going to be in heaven or what - but that I did something good on this Earth.”
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