Student Spotlight: Dietary aide Jaiden Haff

This article is the latest in a series in association with Rhinelander Partners in Education.

Many people yearn to be able to help others and build meaningful connections in any way they can. Rhinelander High School student Jaiden Haff is able to achieve both goals through her job as a dietary aide at the Rennes Health and Rehab Center in Rhinelander.

Dietary aides are responsible for washing dishes, delivering meals to the residents, and ensuring that everyone at the health center is receiving the care they need. In addition, the employees have been working with adaptive equipment to further facilitate their work.

As is common in many workplaces, Haff and her fellow workers do occasionally struggle with maintaining proper team communication. This is particularly evident when one aide is on one side of the building and another is on the other side. Despite that, Haff and her colleagues have been making some strides in strengthening their communication skills as a unit.

"We kind of just do our own thing. If we need something, we don't communicate to each other," she explained. "But then when we do, it makes it a lot easier, so we're getting used to doing that."

Working with family

In addition to working with her teammates, Haff also works regularly with another fellow Rennes employee: her mother.

For Jaiden, this arrangement has been met with mixed results.

"Working with my mom can be fun, but she still has that 'mom talk' to her," she explained. "so she can kind of get on my case."

Jaiden also has another person she can confide in who she refers to as her "work mom."

This woman, who shall remain anonymous, has been known for her kindness and her work ethic. She comes in to work every day, even when sick, ensuring that everyone at Rennes is able to do their job in the best way that can.

As Jaiden put it, "She pushes her limits, she brightens everyone's day, and she tries to please us, even if she just buys us a soda or a candy."

Influence on her future medical career

In addition to building a strong work ethic, Jaiden believes that her experiences caring for the elderly at Rennes has and will continue to influence her career path.

"Working with these (patients and families) influenced [my career path] a lot because it just adored my heart and push it a lot," she explained.

Haff's family and peers have been supportive of her job, and she intends to go to Nicolet College for their nursing assistant program. In addition, she is considering going to medical school afterwards.

Even with these plans, her intent is to keep her career path centered within the Rhinelander area to ensure that she stays close with her family.

In taking care of the elderly, she is able to achieve both goals of making meaningful connections and helping others, it seems like she will continue to do so well into the future.

"When I'm sitting there talking to them with their food and everything," she said. "They (say) just the cutest sayings. They would hold my hand, and it just warms my heart."

Jake Schexnaydre may be reached at [email protected].