To Our Elara Community:

Last weekend the Elara family lost a beloved team member, Joyce Grayson, a Connecticut based behavioral health nurse, who died in an act of violence at a home where she was providing care.

With heavy hearts, our immediate focus has been on supporting Joyce’s loved ones and our team members, who are devastated.

Joyce was a cherished colleague, a leader, doer, advocate, mentor and friend. She brought people together and led by an extraordinary example of selflessness and service. With an irresistible passion for being a nurse, she inspired two of her children to join the field and devote their own lives to caregiving. She was relentlessly positive, no matter the circumstance. Always the face of joy and energy.

As co-workers have shared their words of remembrance over the last few days, it was impossible not to get the sense that Joyce was always present – if not physically present, present in spirit through the many ways she touched the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing her. She was always there, some way, somehow. That type of spirit is indelible. She meant so much to so many and she’ll be profoundly missed.

As we move through this period of shock and grief and begin to turn our attention to where we go from here, the safety and wellbeing of our team members continues to be of paramount concern. Even with the many safeguards we have in place, it is absolutely critical that we work to ensure that our safety protocols and training remain as robust as possible and that our nurses have the support they need to safely care for patients.

Joyce’s full obituary can be found here. In addition to celebrating her life, it includes information on how to support the family. We’ll also be discussing additional tributes for Joyce, ways in which we can best honor her life and preserve her legacy to Elara and the nursing profession.

What binds us together as an extended family is that we’ve chosen this path because we share an innate desire to want to take care of people. That most certainly was Joyce. The world has lost a great light. But we will take her great light forward as a never-dimming beacon, guiding our path in the ways we show up for each other, especially now, and in how we continue to care for all those we serve.

Sincerely,

Scott Powers
Chairman and CEO