Five Years at Bowman Place: Esperance’s Story

Lead LNA and medication technician Esperance has been a staple at Bowman Place since the day its doors opened five years ago. She arrived on March 15, 2021 — one week after the first residents moved in to help prepare rooms that were still waiting for their first occupants.

The building she helped prepare from empty halls is now full, and she has been part of nearly every step of that growth.

“We still have the same people since the beginning,” she says. “So, residents don’t see strangers. That makes a big difference.”

Stability is something Esperance has worked hard for. She came to Manchester in 2010 with her husband and three children after fleeing a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She grew up in the refugee camp where she met her husband. Through the government’s refugee program, the family joined relatives who had already settled in the Queen City.

Her path into senior care began through her church congregation, where a friend introduced her to an LNA training program. That led to her first job as an LNA at an assisted living facility in 2018, where she quickly fell in love with the senior population.

She joined the Bowman team in 2021 and trained in medication administration. In 2023 she stepped into her current role, primarily on the memory care side, with flexibility to float to assisted living when the team needs her. Most recently, she earned her medication nursing assistant license, with a goal to eventually attend nursing school down the road.

Though her role centers on memory care, Esperance is rarely in one place for long. Since opening day, she has taken on a lead role, providing education and support to both staff and residents.

Ask her what helps her connect with residents, especially in memory care, and she points to her “approach.” She is intentional about meeting them with a smile and a soft, warm presence to keep things calm. She stresses how much she loves her job and the residents.

Executive Director Alicia Nordin puts it plainly: in four years of working alongside her, she has never seen Esperance in a bad mood, not even when she’s sick. Alicia is the one who turns to Esperance when a staff member is having a hard time, because Esperance has a way of reaching people at a level they’ll actually hear. Compassion is simply who she is.

The reliability she has found at Bowman Place is what keeps her here. The schedule lets her drive her 15-year-old son to school every morning.