Empathy is the word that best describes Toluwani Akindele.
Every patient that she takes care of experiences the empathy that Toluwani exudes, every single day that she comes in to work.
Toluwani Akindele moved to America from Nigeria when she was only 5 years old. She knew that she wanted to work in healthcare because of her natural compassion and love for taking care of others. Now, after nearly 3 years of working as a CNA, Toluwani is in school to become a registered nurse.
“I feel like I’m destined to help people and care for them,” said Toluwani. “I love the positive impact I can make in the lives of people and the difference to make them happy, make them feel loved and cared for.”
Toluwani joined the Recruitment Alley team in August of 2020. Her motivation to be patient-focused and ensure a positive experience for her residents has earned Toluwani the elusive title of Recruitment Alley’s Healthcare Rockstar of the Month for January.
Toluwani always tries to go the extra mile when it comes to caring for patients, just because she loves to see them happy. She considers the fact that some residents may not have anyone else to love and care for them, and so she should be the one to put in the extra effort to be kind.
“At work I often get a lot of comments from residents that I’m very kind to them, that I really care about them,” said Toluwani. “So hearing that every day really warms my heart and makes me smile.”
Once she’s an RN, Toluwani hopes to continue working in geriatrics, either in home health care or hospice nursing. Home health is appealing to her because of the one-on-one basis that nurses get to work with patients, and she is interested in hospice care because the role itself requires a nurse to show compassionate care and comfort the patient at their end-of-life stage.
Her advice for incoming CNAs, of course, is to have empathy.
“The CNA should be a team player, and have empathy for the residents you’re caring for,” said Toluwani. “Treat them the way you’d want to be treated because they’ll remember you for that, and they can tell when a person is kind, caring, and loving. They can tell.”
