Sophia Colley, Certified Nursing Assistant

I knew I wanted to be in nursing since I was a little girl.  

I grew up in Jamaica and my grandparents raised my four brothers and me. My brothers and cousins liked to hunt birds with a thing that they call a catapult. One day, there was this pretty little bird sitting on the fence and they shot it. I was so heartbroken!  

I picked up the bird and took it to my grandmother. We tried to bring it back to life, but it died. And from that point on, I knew I was destined to be a caregiver. When I was coming to America my grandmother turned to me one day and she said, “When you go to America, make sure you take care of the old people.” 

Every move I made, I heard her voice in my head. I went to school and became a medical assistant. Then I went to school and became a surgical tech. I also went to nursing school. For the past 33 years, my true love has been working as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). That’s what I am.

I learned if being a CNA is not something that you love, you’re not going to handle working in a long-term care facility. You have to have the passion for it. 

We have good days and we have bad days.  

To me, a bad day is when I walk into work and there’s a lack of staff, but you still have 45 residents to care for. Sometimes CNAs call out, or they don’t show up, or they quit. No matter how many staff are working that day, you have to give care and make sure residents eat. When you are short-staffed you don’t have time to answer any questions. You have to say, “hold on” when all that person wants is some water.  

There are so many residents to give care to and then their food gets cold by the time you can give out their meals. That’s something that breaks your heart. If you’re not careful, it will get you in a place that can cause conflict within yourself.  

A good day is when everybody shows up to work. You get the opportunity to render care to the residents in a timely manner. You can spend one-on-one time with them and give 30 minutes of care to each resident. On a good day, they get to eat hot food, we play music and do fun activities.  

A good day makes the world go round in the facility.  

We have more good days than bad thanks to having a union.

We are members of 1199SEIU and the benefit of having a union is we are protected from retaliation if we speak up. Our voices are respected and we can use our voices regularly at labor-management meetings. We all know that Florida is a right-to-work state. Without a contract it would be hard to speak up for our residents and for ourselves for fear of being fired. 

Thank God for the union. If something is going wrong, we utilize labor-management meetings. Having a union helps us get regular wage increases and we can fight for better staffing. Being in a union helps us to fight for a safer environment. Being in a union gives us the tools to fight for funding in order for us to be able to take care of the residents. We have to use our voice to advocate for them and make sure the funding is there.  

That’s powerful.  

As a union member, I’ve had the opportunity to use my voice as a lobbyist. 

I have lobbied elected officials in Tallahassee and I even got to lobby President Biden when I spoke on a panel at the 10th Annual National Medicare Summit in Washington, D.C. It’s terrible because if residents can’t afford to pay for their care, some of them are put out of the nursing home. 

I used to be afraid to stand in front of people and use my voice. But the fear goes away when everybody gets together for the common good and to reach a goal.

When I am knocking on doors during election season, the fear comes. But once I start talking to somebody, it just goes away.  

A good job is something I enjoy and take pride in doing. A good job motivates me.

Like, when I’m at work I can dance and sing for my residents and make them happy. A good job provides room for growth. It also pays enough to cover the bills and any other basic necessities. A good job allows me to go on vacation and not be worried about whether I am spending too much. A good job helps to meet your needs. I need to be with my family sometimes. Spending time with my family reduces stress. It allows me to do hobbies that I like to do. A good job pays enough so I have time to relax, do some shopping, and go to the gym to release stress. 

Fighting for justice will make the world a better place. We have to use our voices to fight for better jobs.