Empathy as essential care: Chantale Couillard’s story

Chantale Couillard had been working as a graphic designer for about twenty years. She was employed by a retail company. “A lot of things just weren’t meaningful to me anymore. The company’s focus on business and sales was moving further away from my values. I felt frustrated. The pandemic pushed me to think about doing something else.” Her partner, her children, and her parents all supported her through the transition. After that, everything moved quickly.

In 2021, Chantale Couillard changed careers. She was 41.

Three months. That is all it took for her to complete the accelerated, paid training to become a beneficiary attendant. “I knew exactly what I was getting into. I understood right away what needed to be done. Honestly, I even felt like the accelerated training was not moving fast enough.”

Her story about those first days working in a long-term care home sets the pace. Day one, everything goes well. Day two, Chantale works 16 hours straight. “I did not expect the impact of working that many hours. I misjudged my energy, but I still loved it.”

Three months, really? Changing careers that quickly could have led to second thoughts. But Chantale Couillard speaks about her new role with a kind of pride that leaves little room for doubt. “When I started at the long-term care home, it was exactly what I had in mind, both in terms of the residents and the work environment. I knew right away this was where I belonged,” she says.

What does an orderly do, and not do? They provide basic care such as helping with eating, positioning, posture, and toileting. These are all non-clinical, hands-on tasks. They fall under what is known as Activities of Daily Living (ADL): bathing, trimming nails, brushing teeth, using the bathroom, eating meals, and more.

Orderlies have limited access to information about the vulnerable patients they care for, many of whom are losing touch with reality. They do not have access to medical charts, medications, or detailed diagnoses. Still, they are expected to share important observations with the care team.

“Sometimes, from their behavior, I can tell what residents are going through. I can spot the wound or the discomfort someone is complaining about. I’m the one who raises a flag and tells the nurse that a resident has, for example, an injury on their hip. We are the eyes and ears of the nursing staff” explains Chantale Couillard.

In this demanding work of observing, interpreting, and understanding patients’ needs at the Jacques-Cartier long-term care center, Chantale highlights the crucial role of caregivers, especially when it comes to sharing information.

“Orderlies interact with caregivers every day. Sometimes, residents are no longer able to communicate with us, so communication happens through their loved ones. We have conversations with families who tell us about the person’s life, what they used to do, what they like to eat, and so on. The patient is sometimes no longer able to tell us these things themselves.”

Some family caregivers can feel frustrated when attendants are not able to spend as much time as they would like with their loved one. “But when they see us working day after day, they start to realize that we are taking some of that weight off their shoulders. They start seeing us as a form of relief.”

Chantale Couillard also emphasizes how important it is, in conversations with caregivers who are often already exhausted by the time their loved one moves into long-term care, to help them understand the need to take care of their own health.

The job goes far beyond basic tasks like feeding someone or changing an incontinence brief. Chantale Couillard calls it “the little things.”

“Being a beneficiary attendant is not just about cleaning someone up. This job is also about stepping into a person’s world, and I try to do that with humanity. It takes humor and empathy to ease those moments. You have to find ways to laugh with them and focus on the good. In long-term care, people go through a major loss of independence and privacy. I can step into that space and help them feel comfortable and at ease.”

At its core, the work is about “keeping patients’ dignity visible,” she adds. That might mean playing music or singing while providing care. In other words, it is about doing many small, thoughtful and personnalized things. “And if we do not do them well, people end up looking neglected and unhappy.”

So could we say that empathy is also a basic form of care? Absolutely, she says. “When a 95-year-old woman asks every three hours to call her parents, you cannot tell her they passed away 30 years ago. Without empathy, without a sense of humor, without the ability to adapt, I do not think you belong in this line of work. You do not do this job for the paycheck.”

As the conversation comes to an end, it is hard not to notice traces of Chantale’s former career in the way she speaks. The way she observes, how she communicates, even during this interview, and how she understands people’s needs all reflect that background.

And above all, her creativity. As a beneficiary attendant, she quickly spots challenges, what is not working, and what could be improved. There is absenteeism, for example. There is also overtime, as well as exhaustion and workplace injuries, which can sometimes affect continuity of care. Her view of her new profession is clear-eyed.

“Set aside what you hear in the news. Yes, there have already been some terrible isolated incidents, I will not deny that. But overall, long-term care homes are places where there is a lot of attention and where residents are safe. I care for people the way I would want to be cared for, or how I would want my grandmother to be cared for. I put both heart and professionalism into it. I hope families can feel reassured knowing that there are orderlies in long-term care, as me and my collegues, who truly care about looking after their relative.”

Chantale Couillard is an olderly. On May 19, and every other day.

• Orderly
• Learning about the health care system
• Managing the transition to a CHSLD
• Navigating the administrative process
• Finding resources

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