December West Oahu Hospice Hero

Providing a supportive presence and a positive attitude can make all the difference in someone’s day. Victorino A. Marquez starts his day bright and early at his first patient’s house before 8 a.m., and what typically follows is a jammed packed workday with back-to-back patient visits. As a Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA), he assists patients in their Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Not only is he there to help with everyday tasks, but he also lends an ear whether they love to chat or not. Victorino says that even if they are not talkative “being known and felt that you are there for them makes them at ease.”

Sometimes miscommunication arises. There are times when new patients mistake Victorino’s name for ‘Victoria’ on the phone. When he shows up at their door, he is then met with confusion because the patients are expecting a female CNA. However, Victorino doesn’t take this to heart. He looks back at these times as a funny story to share.

Right after Victorino got his CNA certification, he spent seven years at Avalon Care Center-Honolulu. He didn’t go into hospice care until he saw the type of compassionate care his Dad received from Islands Hospice. He has been with our ohana for four years and five months now. His enthusiasm for meeting new people and making them feel comfortable is what makes him our December West Oahu Hospice Hero.

A supportive family is important to Victorino. Growing up in the Philippines, he helped his parents during his days off doing farm work. He also has a family of his own with four children— three boys and one girl.

During his off time, Victorino enjoys surfing the internet, watching movies on Netflix, and singing. Although, he says he doesn’t have “that golden voice.”

If there is anything Victorino has learned in his career of caretaking it is that “patience is a virtue so it is essential to the kind of job that we have.”