Selected Podcast
Word and Deed: A Reflective Conversation with Alicia Hooper
Alicia Hooper leads a reflective discussion on the mission statement and core values of her ministry.
Featuring:
Alicia Hooper
Alicia Hooper is an LPN at St. Mary's Health Care System. Transcription:
Scott Webb: This is Mission In Action, a podcast from St. Mary's Healthcare in Athens, Georgia, focusing on patient-centered care under our mission to be a transforming healing presence within our communities. Hello, this is Julie Carter, Vice President for Mission Services. And I'm happy to bring you this installment of Word Indeed, where we visit with colleagues from around St. Mary's Healthcare System, to hear their experience working within our ministry. Today, I introduce Alicia Hooper, the Clinical Manager at Highland Hills Village.
Julie Carter (Host): Alicia shares a powerful story about finding her purpose in serving others. I think you will hear in her voice, the integrity that she brings to her work, that she's faithful to who we, as a ministry say we are in all that she does as she journeys alongside the residents. Most remarkably you'll hear her describe how her ministry caring for others has proved to minister to her as well.
Alicia Hooper (Guest): My name is Alicia Hooper, and I am the Clinical Manager here at St. Mary's Highland Hills. When I started here in 2014, I started as a unit nurse on the unit. I actually had put in my application here about six months prior to ever getting a phone call. up in Oklahoma county and I never wanted to do anything, but be a wife and a mom.
That was all I ever wanted when I was a kid. I grew up in a home that was very traditional and stable. My parents together my whole life and still are. And we grew up in a home where they built the home and moved in the May before I was born in October. The name of the road is my great grandfather's name and we just have a lot of roots and stability.
And so, just wanted that for my family. So, I got married and had two kids and then found myself going through a really difficult divorce situation, with nothing to fall back on to support my children. So, went back to school and got my LPN with the goal of going back and getting my RN. I worked, at the hospital at Regional for a little while, and then I worked a nursing home and then I got the call here.
And I just knew when I pulled in to the parking lot, that there was something here that I was meant to do. And so like I said, I got the call in 2014, started in that August. And, that time have just felt like this was where I was meant to be. never thought when I went back to school that this is the kind of nursing that I would do. never really even saw myself as a nurse. knew I had to do something to support my kids. But then I realized after a couple of years of being here, I was taking care of a lady who was on hospice and went in to check on her one day. And when I walked through her doorway, it took my breath away because she looked just like my grandmother.
And I realized that my whole life had prepared me for this. I was the caregiver for my grandmother. You know, growing up as a teenager, we lived right down the road from my grandparents. And so I was always, I was always at their house and I was always taking care of her when my grandfather. I'm one of 23 grandchildren.
And so my grandfather was always at, you know, baseball games and basketball games and different things. And so my grandmother was sick and so I would just go stay with her and she had some dementia and other problems, you know? And so it just hit me all of a sudden this is my purpose, this is what I was meant to do.
I was meant to be here. every resident is my grandparent. Every resident is my parent. take this extremely personal. is their home and what a privilege and honor it is that their families have entrusted us to take care of their most precious treasured loved ones. that's a huge deal.
I remember my grandmother being in a nursing home when I was a child at times. she'd go in for rehab and things like that. And I just remember just being such a helpless feeling as the family, to leave them there and trust that they're being cared for. And so, if I can give these families a sense of peace and security, knowing that their loved one is going to be cared for as if they were in their home, then that's what I want to do for them. Nothing that I can ever say or do for them, could trump what they give to me every day. blessing of knowing that met someone's needs, and that I've made their day better. They may not remember it tomorrow. Chances are, they won't remember it in 15 minutes, but I know in that moment, that they felt loved and cared for.
So I don't see myself ever being anywhere else. know, I'm not somebody who takes this kind of thing lightly. It's very personal for me and I feel like St. Mary's has given me platform to be able to minister to people in a way that is complete, emotional, physical, spiritual. It gives me the opportunity to, to meet those needs for them. And in turn that meets those needs for me. days are really difficult. Death is really hard. And when you finally realize that that transition in life is just as beautiful as a newborn baby being born, it can be just as beautiful and just wonderful of an experience if it's done right. And so the opportunity that I can be with families and help them through that transition is important to me.
Host: What you've described to me is beautiful awareness that you're present for sacred moments and that you don't take that lightly. And what else can we ask in life really that, we are cared for. That we're loved. And that the end of our life is honored just as much as the beginning of our life. I think that's extraordinarily beautiful. And I do think somehow maybe not the path you would have originally chosen, but somehow you were guided to do something that you were beautifully designed and intended to do.
Alicia: Well, I think it just goes to show, that our human minds can't comprehend, God's plan and purpose for our lives, because I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought that I, and I found out in a very painful way that, that wasn't going to be the life that I would have forever, like I thought I would. And so this is something that just know, I mean, it's hard to know how to describe how you just know, but you know, this is where my heart. This is my calling.
I'm not anything special, but God has allowed me to be His hands and His feet for these people at this time in their lives for such a time as this. And I didn't think I went through my divorce, I felt like my life was over. I felt like everything, my hopes, my dreams, everything had been just ripped away. And it took a couple of years after that, but you know, God restored that. And He used St. Mary's to do it.
Host: Well, to me, you are remarkable way, continuing that legacy of the sisters because they saw themselves in the same way as the hands and feet of Christ. And they certainly were not doing it for the paycheck. Right? It was, it was a ministry and a calling and, our great honor, but also great responsibility is to continue a ministry, even though we don't have the religious sisters in our presence, like we used to. we're still called to be a faith based organization, a Catholic hospital, a Catholic health system.
Scott Webb: This is Mission In Action, a podcast from St. Mary's Healthcare in Athens, Georgia, focusing on patient-centered care under our mission to be a transforming healing presence within our communities. Hello, this is Julie Carter, Vice President for Mission Services. And I'm happy to bring you this installment of Word Indeed, where we visit with colleagues from around St. Mary's Healthcare System, to hear their experience working within our ministry. Today, I introduce Alicia Hooper, the Clinical Manager at Highland Hills Village.
Julie Carter (Host): Alicia shares a powerful story about finding her purpose in serving others. I think you will hear in her voice, the integrity that she brings to her work, that she's faithful to who we, as a ministry say we are in all that she does as she journeys alongside the residents. Most remarkably you'll hear her describe how her ministry caring for others has proved to minister to her as well.
Alicia Hooper (Guest): My name is Alicia Hooper, and I am the Clinical Manager here at St. Mary's Highland Hills. When I started here in 2014, I started as a unit nurse on the unit. I actually had put in my application here about six months prior to ever getting a phone call. up in Oklahoma county and I never wanted to do anything, but be a wife and a mom.
That was all I ever wanted when I was a kid. I grew up in a home that was very traditional and stable. My parents together my whole life and still are. And we grew up in a home where they built the home and moved in the May before I was born in October. The name of the road is my great grandfather's name and we just have a lot of roots and stability.
And so, just wanted that for my family. So, I got married and had two kids and then found myself going through a really difficult divorce situation, with nothing to fall back on to support my children. So, went back to school and got my LPN with the goal of going back and getting my RN. I worked, at the hospital at Regional for a little while, and then I worked a nursing home and then I got the call here.
And I just knew when I pulled in to the parking lot, that there was something here that I was meant to do. And so like I said, I got the call in 2014, started in that August. And, that time have just felt like this was where I was meant to be. never thought when I went back to school that this is the kind of nursing that I would do. never really even saw myself as a nurse. knew I had to do something to support my kids. But then I realized after a couple of years of being here, I was taking care of a lady who was on hospice and went in to check on her one day. And when I walked through her doorway, it took my breath away because she looked just like my grandmother.
And I realized that my whole life had prepared me for this. I was the caregiver for my grandmother. You know, growing up as a teenager, we lived right down the road from my grandparents. And so I was always, I was always at their house and I was always taking care of her when my grandfather. I'm one of 23 grandchildren.
And so my grandfather was always at, you know, baseball games and basketball games and different things. And so my grandmother was sick and so I would just go stay with her and she had some dementia and other problems, you know? And so it just hit me all of a sudden this is my purpose, this is what I was meant to do.
I was meant to be here. every resident is my grandparent. Every resident is my parent. take this extremely personal. is their home and what a privilege and honor it is that their families have entrusted us to take care of their most precious treasured loved ones. that's a huge deal.
I remember my grandmother being in a nursing home when I was a child at times. she'd go in for rehab and things like that. And I just remember just being such a helpless feeling as the family, to leave them there and trust that they're being cared for. And so, if I can give these families a sense of peace and security, knowing that their loved one is going to be cared for as if they were in their home, then that's what I want to do for them. Nothing that I can ever say or do for them, could trump what they give to me every day. blessing of knowing that met someone's needs, and that I've made their day better. They may not remember it tomorrow. Chances are, they won't remember it in 15 minutes, but I know in that moment, that they felt loved and cared for.
So I don't see myself ever being anywhere else. know, I'm not somebody who takes this kind of thing lightly. It's very personal for me and I feel like St. Mary's has given me platform to be able to minister to people in a way that is complete, emotional, physical, spiritual. It gives me the opportunity to, to meet those needs for them. And in turn that meets those needs for me. days are really difficult. Death is really hard. And when you finally realize that that transition in life is just as beautiful as a newborn baby being born, it can be just as beautiful and just wonderful of an experience if it's done right. And so the opportunity that I can be with families and help them through that transition is important to me.
Host: What you've described to me is beautiful awareness that you're present for sacred moments and that you don't take that lightly. And what else can we ask in life really that, we are cared for. That we're loved. And that the end of our life is honored just as much as the beginning of our life. I think that's extraordinarily beautiful. And I do think somehow maybe not the path you would have originally chosen, but somehow you were guided to do something that you were beautifully designed and intended to do.
Alicia: Well, I think it just goes to show, that our human minds can't comprehend, God's plan and purpose for our lives, because I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought that I, and I found out in a very painful way that, that wasn't going to be the life that I would have forever, like I thought I would. And so this is something that just know, I mean, it's hard to know how to describe how you just know, but you know, this is where my heart. This is my calling.
I'm not anything special, but God has allowed me to be His hands and His feet for these people at this time in their lives for such a time as this. And I didn't think I went through my divorce, I felt like my life was over. I felt like everything, my hopes, my dreams, everything had been just ripped away. And it took a couple of years after that, but you know, God restored that. And He used St. Mary's to do it.
Host: Well, to me, you are remarkable way, continuing that legacy of the sisters because they saw themselves in the same way as the hands and feet of Christ. And they certainly were not doing it for the paycheck. Right? It was, it was a ministry and a calling and, our great honor, but also great responsibility is to continue a ministry, even though we don't have the religious sisters in our presence, like we used to. we're still called to be a faith based organization, a Catholic hospital, a Catholic health system.