Joyce Mitchell is one of those few employees who can honestly say she has worked in all levels of care at Inland Christian Home. After 36 years of service to the community, her retirement from ICH will leave residents and staff across the campus feeling her absence.
Joyce began her career at Inland Christian Home as an employee of another company. She worked as a CNA for a registry company that dispatched her to skilled nursing facilities to fill vacant shifts. She and the staff at the community clicked, and she was eventually convinced to leave her registry position to work full-time at ICH in 1994. She remained in skilled nursing until the memory care unit, the Haven, opened in 2004, where she took on the position of the unit supervisor. At the time, the unit had no residents, so she and the staff would spend their time vacuuming the rooms and dusting the rails, making sure the unit was perfect for the residents who were soon to move in.
Eventually, Joyce transferred to assisted living, the only level of care in which she had yet to work. This is where she worked until her retirement on February 9th of this year. While she has fond memories of working on each unit, it is assisted living she enjoyed the most. During her thirty-plus years at the community, she shared many good times and a lot of laughs with residents and coworkers, but the lifelong friends she made she will miss the most.
Joyce currently enjoys her retirement, especially being able to sleep in past 4 a.m. and not having to be at work for the start of an early morning shift every day. She is taking advantage of her newfound free time to do some spring cleaning, give her home a facelift, and is looking forward to working in her garden.
She is loved by residents and staff alike who will remember her for her professional work ethic, her beautiful smile, and her joyful laugh. Above all, they will miss her kind heart. Tonia Netter, one of Joyce’s assisted living coworkers and close friends, says that what she will miss the most about working with Joyce is “everything.” She described Joyce as “someone you could always count on, someone who always went above and beyond.”
This caring approach to her work and her long-time dedication to her residents and coworkers has made her such a valuable addition to the community through the decades. While her position may be filled, her absence will be felt for a long time by all the lives she touched. Inland Christian Home has been honored to have had such a dedicated employee as part of its community and wishes her health and happiness in her retirement.