Metro Community Housing Association
Nominator Comments:
Krista built and opened a small new options home for individuals with complex care needs in 2021. The home is a pilot project for MCHA and is part of the movement to deinstitutionalize care services in Nova Scotia. Krista has thrown herself wholly and completely into getting this project up and running, and her tireless efforts have impressed everyone who works with her. For residents, Krista has orchestrated massive improvements in their quality of life over a few short months. For staff, Krista shows a unique interest in the wellbeing of each of us – me included – and she always makes time to check in with each of us, see how we’re doing, and help us in any way she knows how. On more than one occasion, Krista has stayed on the phone with me for long stretches in the middle of the night during stressful situations.
Krista has gone to immeasurable lengths to foster an environment of open-mindedness and acceptance in our small-options home, wherein we have both non-binary and queer participants. During my interview, Krista asked me about working with gender non-conforming and queer clients, and whether I would struggle to regularly change the name and pronouns I use to address a participant. She wanted to ensure that she was bringing in an entire team of accepting and progressive thinkers. During our training, Krista not only enrolled our team in a Gender and Sexual Diversity course through the Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute, but she completed the entire training alongside us
Krista began advocating for our clients’ improved access to medical care before they even moved into this home. Considering how long
Canadians often have to sit on waitlists for a physician, it is no small feat that Krista accomplished this in such a short time span.
This is not the only instance wherein Krista’s unwavering advocacy has dramatically improved our participants’ quality of life, and each time she does this, she shows her staff – me included – that with hard work you can make changes that matter.
Simply seeing Krista work makes you want to do better at your job.
Krista is the most invested and engaged boss I have ever seen. She has a fiercely positive attitude, and it is unbelievably infectious.
She is always problem-solving and coming up with creative and insightful new ways to tackle the always-changing yet ever-present challenges that arise in this small-option home. I don’t think I would still be working here were it not for Krista.
(These excerpts have been taken from the Nominators’ writeups.)