The Journey Here: Blaine (March 2024)

At Concordia Lutheran Ministries, we are blessed with a dedicated team of compassionate employees who help us carry out our mission of caring every day.

Through our series of employee testimonials, “The Journey Here,” we’ll introduce you to team members, profiling their Concordia journey. The piece will be supplemented with a Q&A featured in our Faith in Caring magazine, offering further perspective on how our employees work as the hands and hearts of our mission. 

We’re excited for you to meet Concordia at Cabot Assistant Administrator of Personal Care Blaine Eiler: 

As wind catches the fabric of an outstretched umbrella, it pulls people in random directions. Most resist, pull the handle, drag their feet, but in the hands of someone like Blaine Eiler, the unseen force provides exciting new opportunities.

A Gentle Breeze

A gentle breeze pushed Blaine into Concordia’s door. As a high school senior in 2007, Blaine worked  as a dietary aide at different senior living facilities in Sarver, Pa. Feeling she wanted to explore further into healthcare, she let that breeze guide her just down the road to Concordia at Cabot, which at the time sought nurse aides. She saw Concordia as a giant umbrella, one that could take her to many places.

Blaine credits her nurse aide experience as an essential building block toward nursing and beyond. She found the work rewarding, despite its rigorous and exhausting nature, both physically and emotionally. She fought through the whirlwind of learning on the fly. She saw each new skill as a foundation toward her greater goal of studying nursing. The job also taught her patience.

“I was 18 years old. I thought I knew everything. This was very eye-opening. I had to learn to control my emotions and my thoughts. It taught me to grow up a little bit,” Blaine said. “I knew then that I wanted to move further forward into nursing.”

While still working full-time at Cabot, she transitioned from nurse aid to medical technician. Meanwhile, she started nursing school at Lenape Tech, where she would reach her goal of becoming a licensed practical nurse (LPN).

Whisked away

As she whisked her way upward, she found herself drifting away from Cabot but not from Concordia. After serving a few years as an LPN in Cabot, Blaine transferred to Concordia of Cranberry, where she fell in love with an engaging and encouraging learning atmosphere.

“It was a smaller building, and it let me evolve my nursing skills. I became more confident,” Blaine said. “My managers empowered me to take more responsibility.”

After a few more years, Blaine followed the flow upward and beyond. Blaine rose through the ranks, and soon, she found herself a new landing at Concordia of Wexford, where she flexed her newfound leadership skills in a management role.

For a little more than three years, Blaine served as the facility’s resident care coordinator, and she saw beyond the floor while working diligently on it. Coordinating with leaders from other facilities, she found news ways to push her team to greater heights.

“That one really sticks with me,” she said. “I learned so much while I was there.”

Shifting winds

As Blaine traveled into the jet stream of the nursing hierarchy, the trajectory shifted bringing her to an unexpected place in her career. Following her Wexford tenure, Blaine returned to Cabot where she landed in the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Department.

In this capacity, she spent more time engrossed in the technological side of medicine. Entering the position, Blaine understood Concordia’s EMR system intimately, having used it throughout her Concordia career. A little more than a year into the role, the department started looking at changing the system.

Blaine became heavily involved in the project and started training others on the new system. As she learned the new mechanisms, she analyzed them with her nursing background. She said she preferred to teach the functions of the program paired with practical reason and logic for those inputs.

“Systems are all very similar, but it was nerve-wracking that I was training not just nurses but even doctors and administrators,” Blaine said. “It became a thrilling experience. I learned how to handle myself in those situations, presenting information clearly and with confidence.”

A familiar new feeling

As the project dwindled into normalcy, a new cyclical burst arrived bringing Blaine back to personal care.

Blaine transitioned to her current role as the assistant administrator of personal care at Concordia at Cabot. Now, she’s overseeing management, staff and their duties, but she’s got some goals on the horizon too.

“One of my goals is creating excitement and new engagement in our continued education plans,” she said.

As Blaine focuses on her future, she looks back and sees all the stops along the way. To the outsider, it might look spontaneous. To Blaine, she sees how each position moved her to the next.

“It’s been unexpected, a rollercoaster, a wild ride,” Blaine said. “I’ve been very supported, and over the years, my coworkers have become some of my closest friends.”

For now, the clouds have parted. The air remains still. Blaine focuses on the tasks at hand, yet her mindset remains. Should the winds of change whip up once more, she will follow the flow.

View all open careers at ConcordiaCareers.org and connect with us on social to learn more about our employee culture! And, to learn more about Blaine’s perspective on his Concordia career, check out the March issue of Concordia’s Faith in Caring magazine.

Subscribe today by emailing giving@concordialm.org.

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Founded in 1881, Concordia Lutheran Ministries is a faith-based, CARF-accredited Aging Services Network and recipient of the inaugural Pennsylvania Department of Aging Excellence in Quality Care Award. As one of the largest nonprofit senior care providers in the country, the organization serves 50,000 people annually through in-home care and inpatient locations.