Born and raised right here in Rochester, Terri McTigue is hardly new to the area or to St. John’s. She spent her working years as a nurse and always enjoyed working with seniors. This background helps her to feel right at home with residents of all stages of aging. Throughout the pandemic Terri notes, “the staff has been great.” Terri emphasized her feeling of safety and care living here throughout these crazy times; although she often misses her loved ones.
Terri is an exceptional woman. She has always had a fiery determination about her, a quality which became clear as she explained her drive from Rochester all the way to California in her 20s with a broken gas tank. She just thought, “I can do that.”
Being a cancer survivor, Terri is no stranger to a difficult diagnosis. That is why when she heard in November of 2020 that she had tested positive for COVID-19, she had little doubt that she would make a full recovery.
Lucky for Terri, she had a lighter case of the virus. Aside from a loss of taste and smell, she felt relatively okay. Today she is fully recovered and looking forward to the day when families are welcomed back into the building, as we all are. She is most looking forward to meeting her three-month old grandson and hugging all her loved ones.
After some initial skepticism about the vaccine, Terri did her research and decided getting vaccinated was for the best. “After all, there’s a reason we don’t get polio or small pox anymore,” she says. Terri has since encouraged her sister and other family members to do the same whenever it becomes available to them.
The distribution of the vaccine has become a beacon of hope for St. John’s residents and staff members alike as St. John’s strives to move forward into a brighter future. St. John’s anxiously anticipates the day when we can open our doors to families and volunteers.