‘Healing hands’: Senior caregiver named Hyundai Hometown Hero

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Carol B. Thomas believes since she was a little girl, God’s plan was for her to take care of those older than her.

“My grandmother always said that I had healing hands and I was just, I don’t know, I just always took a special interest in seniors,” the registered nurse said outside of her new job at the VA Clinic in Jacksonville’s Hogan’s Creek neighborhood.

📹 See More Good: Previous Hyundai Hometown Heroes

Thomas had just received the news that she had won the Hyundai Hometown Heroes Award in the Senior Caregiver category. She was nominated alongside 76 other local senior caregivers. She’ll now receive a 2023 Hyundai Tucson SUV.

“I kind of had a feeling but I wasn’t sure. I’m just grateful that people thought enough about me to even nominate me. I think it’s just a blessing and I’m grateful. I’m honored,” she said.

Thomas’s mother, Yvonne, and older sister, Bess, were there to greet her with hugs when Thomas received the news. Both can attest to her skills. Bess suffered a stroke at the age of 28 that left her partially paralyzed.

“She’s really good. Our worship the ground she walks on,” Bess said. “Anytime I need her, she is right there, no matter what. So, I appreciate her and love her so much.”

Carol Thomas just started working at the Department of Veterans Affairs three weeks prior. She says even though her patients are now all ages of adulthood, she loves to focus on her seniors.

“Just the joy I get from seeing their faces, you know, and they think that they owe me something but really, it’s the joy I get from seeing how happy they are. It’s just the joy I have in my heart from seeing the impact that I make. I think it’s little but they think it’s huge, and I’m just so grateful that I can be a blessing to them.”

These are the nominations that Thomas’ mother and husband, John, wrote on her behalf: