Cortney Oliver; A Life for Caring

By: Seth Myers

Imagine yourself at the age of twelve having the responsibility to care for two elderly adults. Do you think you could of handle it? For Cortney Oliver, that was just the case. When Cortney was only 12, she lived in Michigan with her great grandmother and a friend of hers. Cortney’s great grandmother at first took the responsibility to care for her friend who was blind during that time. However, the situation got to a point where Cortney’s great grandmother could not care for herself. So, with the guidance of her great grandmother, Cortney cooked, cleaned, fed and watched over both adults. This was the beginning of her career in the healthcare field.

Even with this going on, Cortney described her childhood as “great”. At the age of four, her mother married a man who was in the army, who then stationed to Hawaii soon after they got married. That is where they lived for two years, then they moved back to the states. Being that her step dad was in the army, she lived in a very structured environment growing up. However, she said that she had “everything I ever wanted though”. Cortney has an older brother and a younger sister; who neither one of them lived in the household with her for a permanent time. She stated about their presence in the household, “or should I say off and on they did so I really grew up by myself they weren’t really around”. When she was 15, Cortney moved to this area where she graduated from Olathe North in 2008. She did not want to attend a four year university, so “JCCC was the perfect fit”.

Growing up and being a caregiver for others, it was an easy choice to what sort of career Cortney would go into. While attending high school, Cortney worked full time in the evenings as a caregiver. She added that she worked everyday for about eight to sixteen hours. To add onto the stress of doing that, she did so while pregnant. Cortney said “I was not sure if they would allow me to work there if I was pregnant, but it turned out that they didn’t care”. She would later go onto say that one reason for them to not care is because there is a lack of nurses and CNA’s around the area to care for the elderly. If someone was looking to be a caregiver, it is important to understand the personality traits it takes to work in the healthcare field. For example, “you should be opened minded, reliable, a team player and the knowledge of the basics of caring for someone”.

Obviously, Cortney fits all those traits as she not only helps the elderly, but she also does community service at a food bank called Just Foods in Lawrence Kansas. Just Foods is a food pantry for the homeless and any others in need. Her job there is to stock and sort the food for whoever needs it. With all of these responsibilities, there was one community however that she wishes to join. She said, “I would like to be more involved in church, however with work, school and community service, it is hard to do it”.

There are benefits to working with the elderly. Cortney said “You can learn a lot about old people, they are very knowledgeable”. One piece of advice that stuck with Cortney was when she asked a man how he “maintained a successful marriage”, his response was, “Just do whatever she says”. Another benefit in this community is the relationships that you will build over time. Cortney’s favorite person that she took care of unfortunately passed away a couple months ago. He was her favorite because he would say, “when are you going to tell your mother about me” and he would always tell her that he loved her. She said “Something about me reminded him of his wife”. He would always find a way to make her laugh and be happy, which is something that can be very difficult to do.

“In the healthcare business, you learn something new every single day”. A goal for cortney in 2018 was just that, to learn something new everyday. As well as that, she feels like she wants to grow as a person. Her goals here at JCCC are to “get into the lpn program then into the bridge program to RN”. LPN stands for Licensed Practical Nurse and their job is to work with doctors and registered nurses to perform health care tasks, such as measuring vital signs and observing patients. From this point, the end goal of this is to become a registered nurse.

Having someone to look after the elderly is something most people will have to face in their lifetime. Her community is important to everyone, and especially her. Whether that be in a nursing home or meeting the person in their own home, it is something that everyone should prepare for. She also added, “If you are in it for the paycheck it shows”. This quote affects everybody. It is something that everyone should think about when choosing their career. You should do something that you want to do; something that means a lot to you. For Cortney, caring and helping others in need is just that.