There are some interviews that I do with people that get stuck in my heart. Usually their attitude and outlook put them there. I recently sat down with Lisa Davenport, Director of Nursing for Rittenhouse Senior Living of Portage, and got to listen to wonderful words from a wonderful woman.
Born and raised in Galesberg, IL, Davenport lived with her loving parents and siblings. She and her family moved to Gary, IN because her mom worked at St. Mary’s Hospital, which is now the police station, and then at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart until she retired.
Davenport was working as a photographer when the idea to be a nurse was put into her head be her sister.
“At the time I was not interested in being a nurse,” Davenport said. “My sister asked me if I wanted to go back to school and said that she thought it was a good idea. I wasn’t keen on the idea but we talked about it. It made sense to do it at the time so I enrolled at Ivy Tech in the early ‘90s and made my way through nursing school.”
Her first job using her degree was at Franciscan St. Anthony Health in Michigan City in pediatrics and obstetrics. A little unsure since she had no children of her own at that time, but after only three days on the job she fell in love with the kids and ended up working there for eight years. A friend then asked her if she would be interested in working in assisted living.
“I decided to try it and got a position in management with an assisted living company and then I began to work with Marsha Leonard, our current CEO here at Rittenhouse,” Davenport said. “We then came to work at Rittenhouse after that and have been here ever since.”
What Davenport likes the most about working for Rittenhouse is that she and her staff have the opportunity to provide assistance to seniors who are nervous about staying in an assisted living facility.
“We help seniors who are very independent to those who are close to passing who want their last days to be comfortable in hospice,” Davenport said. “Being able to be active in our seniors’ lives is a very important thing to me… They entrust our lives to us, and that’s a big responsibility but it’s also a big reward to be able to give them the variety and quality of life that they thought they might lose before coming here.”
Davenport has been at Rittenhouse since 2004, and she says that not only does she get to help the residents and staff, but she gets help from them. In 2009 Davenport was diagnosed with breast cancer and she has been kicking its butt ever since.
“I’ve had several bouts of chemotherapy and I just started a new round three weeks ago,” Davenport said. “My residents are always keeping tabs on me, asking me how I am and I’m okay with that because I have the ability to help them and knowing I have support from so many people is great. I don’t sit at my desk and go ‘Poor me, poor me,” that just isn’t who I am. Cancer is something that I have, not something that has me.”
Not letting the disease get the best of her is a very drawing aspect that I and many others saw in Davenport. We all have bad days, but sitting around and throwing one-person pity parties isn’t helping at all. Getting up, getting the most out of life that you can, and then sharing the goodness that life gave you with others is what Davenport is all about.
Outside of work, Davenport is with her family or on her motorcycle (another reason I’m drawn to her), or both. She has a son named Spencer who just graduated from Portage High School who plans to take on pre-law at Indiana State University.
“He’s my buddy,” Davenport said of her son. “I’m so proud of him and I’m close with the rest of my family. That’s where my focus and priorities are.”