Guided to Serve: For 25 years Theresa Turnbull has been a trusted soul at Comforcare – Austin Daily Herald

For a good portion of her life, Good Samaritan Society-Comforcare Activity Director and Chaplain Theresa Turnbull has worked with the elderly.

For the past 25 years it’s been with the Austin facility where she plans daily activities and caters to their spiritual needs.

But for Turnbull, it’s not so much of a job as it is a calling.

“You know, I can’t really picture myself elsewhere,” Turnbull said. “It’s just a natural flow and the older I get doing this job the easier the flow gets.”

“They see my white hair and they think I understand,” she added with a laugh.

While Turnbull has spent a lot of her working life with the elderly, it wasn’t always among her goals to make a career out of it. While attending Broken Arrow Bible College in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, she had a goal of working with children at the Courage Center in the Twin Cities.

However, while she was going to school in Oklahoma she worked at a nursing home and a hospital.

This followed what she had already been doing when she worked at the Albert Lea Good Samaritan facility as a first job.

“I absolutely loved it,” Turnbull said.

Working with the elderly isn’t so much of a surprise anymore, but remains an important calling in her life and fits in well with her desire to help people, as well as working in a profession that allows her to share her faith with others.

“There’s a freedom to share about the Lord and there are beautiful people working here,” Turnbull said. “I learn a lot by watching them too. I see the team work as being very good. We’re not perfect and we give each other grace for that. When we know somebody is struggling we really rally.”

Each day, Turnbull’s job is about keeping residents engaged during their stay at the facility with the understanding that it’s not always easy.

As part of that, Turnbull seeks to reach both the physical and emotional needs of the residents and over the years Turnbull has been so dedicated that those returning or who had stays in the facility still remember her.

“It happens on a weekly basis and they ask for Theresa,” said Good Samaritan Administrator Clara Stitt. “Truly. They were here 10 years ago or had a family member that lived here 15 years ago. It’s just so nice for them to be able to see a familiar face. It’s a lot of trust.”

That kind of trust is important when it comes to entering a facility like Good Samaritan. People are moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar and that kind of transition can be frightening or even depressing.

Turnbull, in turn, is determined to walk that journey with them, along with her dog Teddy, who comes to work with her each day.

“That very first activity assessment does not go fast because the stories start flowing,” Turnbull said. “The tears sometimes start flowing too, especially if they are coming to stay or they don’t know if this is going to lead to staying or another long-term care facility.”

“But what’s really interesting and fun to watch is when they get among others who have gone down that same road,” she continued. “That’s where that connection is so important.”

Stitt agreed.

“It’s so nice when people come in and see a familiar face because everything is new,” she said. “For a lot of people this is totally new. Just knowing Theresa, knowing she’s a good person, puts people at ease. Seeing someone familiar puts them at ease.”

While day-to-day living at Comforcare is important for Turnbull, just as important is being with those whose stories are coming to an end.

Those moments tend to be just as deep and meaningful for her as she helps guide them to that next stage.

“Those who are having struggles, that’s where I zero in on and you know what? I call it an honor to be with people as they are at the end of their life,” Turnbull said. “The conversations are precious. I learn a lot. I have a lot of friends in heaven that I’m looking forward to seeing again.”

At the heart of what Turnbull does for Comforcare is a sincere belief that she is here, helping those residents staying at the facility, for a reason and that her hands are guided.

And for all of it, the activity director and chaplain with a comforting smile whole-heartedly believes she was meant to be on this path.

“I feel like it was the path the Lord had for me,” Turnbull said. “Scriptures say many are the plans in the man’s heart, but the Lord directs the path. I believe he directed my path. It’s been a good path and I’m thankful for that and I’m going to tell him that when I get to heaven. I tell him that now. Thanks for letting me work with people I know he loves a lot too.”