Husband and wife team named Caregivers of the Year

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – Most husbands and wives ask each other how their day went at the end of each workday, but for one couple in Monroe County, their workday is spent together.

For Cecil and Daisy Chandler deciding on careers in the medical field helped shape the trajectory of their lives, at work and at home.

The couple met at Diversicare of Amory in 1997.

Cecil had been there for a few years, when he noticed a new hire.

“I started talking to her then when she came in for orientation, I started talking to her then and one thing led to another and we went out, started dating, got married, two kids later we still together,” said Cecil.

They have made such an impact in patients lives, that Diversicare’s Activities Services director Dian Wilemon nominated the Chandlers for Caregivers of the Year, through the Mississippi Healthcare Association.

“That is such a special, I think calling to have, that they could take it home, live with each other, 24 hours a day, work 24 hours a day, and yet the compassion they have for our residents, you can see the aura around them,”  said Wilemon.

The Chandlers said there are a lot of advantages when it comes to working together as husband and wife, at the same job, under the same roof, in fact, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Coming to work everyday together, we just work good together,” said Daisy.

Being named Caregivers of the Year was a surprise for the Chandlers, and Cecil gives the credit to his wife.

“I was good before she came along, but after I met her, she made me better,” said Cecil.

Cecil and Daisy plan on taking care of the residents at Diversicare for many more years.

The Chandlers help train new employees at the assisted living center.