According to her friends and co-workers, Terri Nolte is one of the shining lights of the Rivermead LifeCare community in Peterborough.
Mary Proulx, who worked with Nolte for many years before leaving the region to care for her own father, said she “learned absolutely everything” from Nolte and calls her “the lifeblood” of the assisted living and memory care unit where she works.
“In my former job, I had worked with this population, and it really scared me — it was just the unknown, and I didn’t know how people would react or what they were feeling,” Proulx said. “But Terri made it so effortless, and she taught me all about it. She taught me how even using non-language, we can protect and preserve our friends who need help. She makes them be seen, and she makes them feel valued, and she gives them the absolute best care possible.”
Nolte, who is a licensed nursing assistant, has worked at RiverMead for 12 years. After her first six years, she moved into the role of memory care activities coordinator.
“She just brings such love and joy and enthusiasm to this population. Even though they have impairments, her people all know her, and they all love her,” Proulx said. “She establishes this bond and has this relationship with them, and they all know who she is, all the way to the end.”
Along with organizing daily activities for memory care patients, such as dance parties, crafts and sing-alongs, Nolte takes her clients on regular field trips and excursions.
“She has created these beautiful excursions — anyone can go, and they are just so joyful. They all get on this huge van, and Mary drives the van, and she keeps everyone entertained the whole time,” Proulx said. “They’ll drive back roads and drive slow and look for wildlife. She makes bird calls to make the birds call back. She makes every outing meaningful to the residents.”
Nolte also ensures her residents stay physically active.
“They have a group, Shenanigans, in assisted living and memory care, where they just get up and dance. She just get them moving, and they all follow along,” Proulx said.
Music plays an important role in Nolte’s program for people with impairments.
“The choir comes up to the unit, and the residents just love it — music is so important. Terri and I have been with people at their last breath, and we are playing the music that they love, and it is pretty powerful,” Proulx said.
Proulx calls Nolte a “manifesting generator” — someone who is passionate, charismatic, and able to react and adapt quickly to different situations.
“The other term I always use for Terri is ‘jack of all trades, and master of all,'” Proulx said. “The energy Terri brings every single day is just top-notch. She is just completely there for residents, and everyone feels it.”
Proulx says Nolte is constantly learning about new topics so she can share new information with her clients.
“Once a week, she does ‘Let’s learn about…’, and she will pick a topic and learn all about it and share it with her people, and they are all hanging on to every breath,” Proulx said. “One of the best excursions was when we learned about Amos Fortune. Terri researched his life story, and we went to the Amos Fortune homestead and the cemetery where he is buried, and it was amazing. Everyone just absolutely loved it.”
Before coming to RiverMead, Nolte was a therapeutic riding instructor at Touchstone Farm in Temple.
“Terri takes residents to Touchstone Farm once a month just to be around the animals; they are able to brush them and interact with them. The things she comes up with for them to do are just fantastic,” Proulx said.
Nolte says her career has been a gift.
“My absolute love and joy in life is to work with people who have challenges, and with people who might need some extra help,” Nolte said. “My whole career has been helping people with challenges.”
Nolte grew up in Jaffrey, and her first job was with her dad, “working on a Farmall tractor with an 8-foot sickle bar.”
“We mowed all the state roads of lower southwestern New Hampshire,” she said.
Nolte says her father taught her to love her work.
“How many people can say they absolutely love their job and what they do? ‘Be happy in your work’; that’s what my dad used to say,” Nolte said. “Even if he was cleaning out my closet, he would be saying, ‘I’m happy in my work,’ and that’s how I view it. I am beyond happy and grateful for what I get to do every day.”
Nolte said she always aspired to work with people who need help.
“I have known my entire life that my work would be with people who have special needs. It is a blessing to be with them. They give me joy,” she said. “I need them just as much as they need me.”
Nolte says her work at Rivermead “doesn’t feel like a job.”
“People always say, ‘You’re doing a great job,’ but it’s just me — it’s my life. When I am with residents up on the memory care unit, they just love it — whether we’re acting silly, whatever we are doing, they just love it, and it gives me such joy,” she said. “Truly, I think I get more out of it than my people do. It is just a privilege to be with them.”
