Inside Athena: The C.N.A. Behind Newtown Rehab’s Nursing Schedule
NEWTOWN, C.T. — Maggie Montero started her career at Newtown Rehabilitation & Health Care Center as a Certified Nurse Aide. For 12 years, she looked at the posted schedule to see what shifts she was assigned. She went from looking at those schedules to creating them in January 2020.
“I have a lot of compassion for my coworkers in this position as scheduler,” Montero said. “I see both sides of the job. I’m a people person and I like taking care of others.”
Maggie Montero
The fact she worked as a C.N.A. has helped her succeed in her nursing scheduler duties. She is familiar with all the units at the Fairfield County, Connecticut center and the care that needs to be provided. In her scheduling duties, she coordinates and completes the schedules for the nursing department. She also promotes the importance of teamwork with the staff daily.
“We have to help each other out and we have to work together. Everything is about teamwork. We have to respect each other, help each other and listen to each other,” she said.
Though Montero has been at Newtown Rehab for 15 years, she has been a C.N.A. for the past 28 years.
“You have to treat people the way you want to be treated,” she said. “If you don’t care for other people, you’re not going to be in this profession.”
Montero has a passion for helping others and she looks forward to coming to work.
“You really have to love your job. Don’t take a job you don’t love,” she said. “My job is my second home and the residents love me and I love them.”
Montero still helps and works as a C.N.A. as needed because she loves taking care of others.
She isn’t just at the center for the residents. The staff will talk with her, and she will listen and understand where they are coming from. She supports them and lifts them back up if they are having a tough day. It all circles back to teamwork and why she emphasizes that “without those three things of respect, helping each other and listening to each other a team won’t exist.”
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