by Vickie Jenkins, Staff Writer
Southern Plaza Retirement Community is a perfect place for senior residents. They offer Independent Living, Assisted Living and Certified Alzheimer’s Community.
Their mission is to give new meaning to life; to seniors by providing high-quality service in a comfortable, secure environment given with a spirit promoting dignity and respect.
Meet Niaz Adu, RN and Director of Nursing. She has been a nurse for ten years and has worked at Southern Plaza since November 2017. Niaz attended OCCC for her RN and OU for her BSN. When Niaz was going to nursing school, she had several mentors that she looked up to; Dr. Valerie McCartney, an OB nurse at OCCC and several close friends.
Niaz loves working at Southern Plaza for several reasons. She likes the interaction she has with each resident. “I like working in Bethany. A lot of our residents grew up in Bethany and there are a lot of Bethany alumni. All of the residents are so nice and we all feel like one big happy family. We have a wonderful staff here and they love, care and dedicate their time to the residents.”
Southern Plaza is a Christian Retirement Community, owned by Southern Nazarene University and managed by Arbor House,” Niaz said. “The Independent Living has been here for 20 years. The assisted living opened in November of 2017 so this building is fairly new. Right now, we have 97 residents living here and we have 24 hour care seven days a week,” she added.
Niaz tells that she wanted to be a teacher when she was a little girl. “I never thought about being a nurse. My family and I lived overseas for a year and then, I got married. It was my father and my husband that suggested I go into nursing because I was so compassionate and I started going to nursing school. It was the best decision that I made in my life,” she said with pride in her voice.
What qualities make a good nurse? “A nurse needs to be compassionate, have genuine kindness, be a loving person, be task and detail oriented to make sure things get done efficiently,” Niaz replied. “Also, a nurse needs to have excellent nursing skills,” she added.
Asking Niaz what her favorite part of her job is, she replied, “I love interacting with each of the residents, I also like supporting all of the staff so they can be the best they can be and building a strong team.”
It was quite the experience when Niaz and her husband met for the first time. They were both doing religious volunteer work at the Baha’i Center in Israel. “My husband, Maxwell, is from Ghana in West Africa. We have been married for thirteen years and have two sons, Shoghi, ten years old and Anis, six years old,” Niaz said. Niaz and Maxell and their families are big believers in the Baha’i Religion. “I live my daily life regarding work and worship by the Baha’i Writings which is very close to my heart,” Niaz commented.
What advice would you give to someone going into the medical field? “I would tell them to know that being a nurse and caring for others comes from the heart. If they work in an assisted living facility, they need to focus on the residents they are taking care of and get to know them. Sometimes, we can lose focus on what we are really there for. Sometimes, as nurses, I think we tend to forget what our real job is. We lose something special in the bond between resident and patient. We need to realize that we are taking care of a person that is just like our mother or father or our grandparents. We need to focus on the individual and not spend our time stacking on the tasks and we need to focus on the big picture,” she replied.
Niaz enjoys spending time with her family. “My family is definitely a soccer family. We spend our time traveling on weekends for soccer tournaments or piano competitions. I am a real soccer mom,” she said. “We all love to travel. On our family vacations, we have traveled to almost all the states; everywhere we go, I get a coffee mug from each place; that is my collection,” she said with a laugh.
Summing up Niaz’s life in one sentence, she said, “Get the work done in a spirit of service, it is the highest form of worship.”
GOLDEN AGE NURSING FACILITY
Long-Term Care and Skilled Nursing
HIRING RN’s & LPN’s | Acute Care
· Historic downtown Guthrie.
· Short drive from Edmond & OKC.
· Positive team environment with leaders who value our staff.
· Serve to make a difference
· Family-owned and operated.
· Competitive Pay
· Insurance Benefits
· Paid Time Off
· Matching 401K
· Incentive Time Off
Apply on-line at www.companionhealth.net
