Adviser’s Note:  Mrs. Rikki Toonen, a Notre Dame alum and classmate/friend of Marketing and Communications Manager Chelsea McKay, visited the Journalism I class for an interview. A couple of the students’ feature stories are published here.

‘’You’d think being a hospice nurse would be depressing, but it is not,’’ said Rikki (Farr) Toonen. Toonen is an NDA graduate from the Class of 2001. She is a hospice nurse at Unity Hospice. 

Unity Hospice is a non-profit organization that works with many elderly patients expected to die.

‘’Old people are my jam, and I like spending time with them,’’ said Toonen. She works directly with the patients and typically has supervision of around five patients. 

Toonen’s job also involves working with pediatric and infant deaths. 

‘’As time goes by it seems younger patients enter our hospice care. It is awful seeing children pass,’’ said Toonen.

Pediatric passings are her least favorite memory, but Toonen’s favorite memories come from a religious standpoint.

‘’My favorite memory is when a 90-year-old woman died after receiving the Eucharist,’’ Toonen told the journalism class. 

The woman had not eaten or drunk anything for three weeks. 

‘’Normally, death takes over when someone is without food or water for about 7-10 days,’’ said Toonen.

Toonen reached out to the woman’s family, asking if she was religious, and the woman’s son said “yes.” The hospice center then brought in a priest to bless her and give her communion. 

‘’Three hours after she was given communion and blessed the woman died. It was an extraordinary moment,’’ said Toonen.–Payton LaViolette

I enjoy being at the bedside of the patient with their family, and I enjoy educating them on what’s happening and reassuring them,” said Rikki (Farr) Toonen, who graduated from NDA in 2001 and works at Unity Hospice.

After graduating, Toonen went to NWTC for nursing. She moved to Milwaukee for some time but went back to NWTC for schooling and is now a registered nurse.  She has worked for Unity for 19 years.

“I got into nursing because of my aunt. She was my sponsor at confirmation, and she was a registered nurse,” said Toonen.

Close friend with Chelsea McKay, NDA classmate and the school’s current director of marketing, Toonen visited the Journalism I class for their final exam interview. “I work with patients who are close to passing,” she explained.

“I’ve only ever worked at Unity, and I’ve always thought about working with those types of patients,” said Toonen. “I started as a CNA at a nursing home, so I’ve always liked working with elderly people.”

“To be a patient in hospice you have to be diagnosed with less than six months to live, or you have to be no longer receiving treatment. It’s terminally ill patients we handle,” said Toonen.

When asked if her job is depressing, Toonen answered in the negative.  “Death is just as important as birth,” she said. “It’s a beautiful moment as long as everyone’s comfortable.”–Rykker Thomas