Staff are family at Courtyard Gardens
This is a story of two hardworking staff members, Cecilia, and Santamaria.
Cecilia has worked at Courtyard Gardens for just over 5 years as a casual housekeeper. She is from a small village in El Salvador called Colonia Amatepec PJE 3 Soyango. She left El Salvador to come to Canada with her family in the 1990’s and eventually came to work at Courtyard Gardens.
Norma Santamaria, a newer employee prefers to use the name Santamaria, to honour her mother. Santamaria was hired at Courtyard Gardens as a care aide in August of 2020. She was born and lived in a small village in El Salvador called Colonia Amatepec as well. She moved away and came to Canada years later.
One evening, Santamaria heard a coworker call the name “Cecilia” and the person replied with a Spanish sounding accent. Santamaria turned around and had a closer look at who was speaking. “Cecilia? Is that you?” she asked trying to see who was wearing the mask and it was the person she knew as a girl from El Salvador. Cecilia did not recognize Santamaria right away; it has been many years since they were girls in the same small village. They finally confirmed, “is it you?” “yes! It is me!” and had a smiling reunion in Spanish with lots to catch up on.
It is amazing that so many years later, in our community of Courtyard Gardens, they are both working and serving our seniors with their kindness and caring ways.
The staff are truly family, they grew up together, moved away, raised their families and one way or another, come together again.
Cecilia and Santamaria
