Melissa Coleman Wells

Ultimately, for me, it's God. I always tell people the story of how I was really at the point of compassion fatigue in foster care. I was serving more counties than I was supposed to because we were so short-staffed, and I was on call every other week while still caring for my two youngest sons. I had never in my life said I'm done with a job, but I went to my supervisor and said I'm going to have to give my two weeks, and I had nothing aligned after that. When I came here and interviewed with 8 different people, I thought I'm not gonna get this job because I didn't feel like I had enough medical background to qualify. But I got the call that I had been chosen for the position. My last job ended on the 24th of February, and I began here on the 26th of February. It was perfect alignment, and to me, it couldn't have been anything other than divine alignment.

The first thing I would say is be compassionate to yourself. Remember that where you start out may only be the stepping stone leading you to your ultimate goal. I think so much time, young women feel like if I don't have it all mapped out right now, I'm failing, and that's just not the case. The wonderful thing is the journey along the way to get you where you're ultimately satisfied. So to be compassionate and patient with yourself is probably my big thing. Just be good on the journey and understand that there's gonna be those peaks and valleys along the way, but you'll get there. And sometimes it's in the most crazy ways, but the journey, every minute of the journey is worth it. I think too often we forget to enjoy the journey. I think we get too focused on, no, it has to be this way. Well, it doesn't have to be this way. You'll get there, and you'll know.

I would say the biggest challenge is people not realizing that we're a resource. I've been here again almost 8 years, and there's still people that'll walk through the door and say I didn't know you guys existed. I think that stems from us being the only one in the U.S. and Canada. Also, initially when I first came into my position, there was a lot of pushback because other agencies don't want to share if they can make a profit. My goal was always to go to the hospitals and the palliative care units and the hospices and let them know that we're all part of a legacy of love. We're all a part of giving a person the quality of life that they deserve, whether that quality is beginning stages of aging or end-of-life aging. That was a big challenge I met in the beginning. I can tell you, almost 8 years later, we now have almost every hospital refer to us, which is wonderful. But initially coming in, that was a big setback and a big pushback of no, no, no, please don't take from us, when really we're like, hey, we're here, not everybody is going to have insurance to cover, or they're going to have maxed out the things that they can get on Medicare or Medicaid, and they're gonna need to be able to get an $8 cane that insurance is gonna charge them $80 for. So really, initially it was that establishing connections and relationships with larger organizations that saw us initially as a threat.

The biggest thing for both, honestly, is passion. We can spend hours on end talking about where I work because I'm so passionate about it. To be able to help somebody who comes in that may be already on the brink of trauma because they've been diagnosed with something, or their loved one has been diagnosed with something, or they themselves have had an accident that has impaired their lifestyle, it's a passion to help that person understand that their life doesn't stop. We're gonna show them ways and give them tools to move them forward. And because I have a social work background, if we don't have it here in our store, I'm gonna do my best to line somebody up for them to be able to get it. Everybody has a story, and we want to do our best to actively listen and passionately respond. This is truly our mission field, and myself and my employees honestly feel that. Not only in the passion of we believe that everybody deserves a place to call home, we also believe that everybody deserves to have the quality of life until they go home with a capital H. Passion is a big thing, and passion is definitely what's led me my whole personal life as well, in regards to being a loving mother, being a devoted wife, a sister and a daughter, to do those things to the best of my ability and to show love every day is what I'm called to do.