Compassionate housekeeper earns way into hearts of hospital patients

Massan Ametowoyona treats patients at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center like family, slipping in questions about how their relatives are doing as she tidies their rooms.

Massan, who moved to the United States from Togo, Africa, works the second shift on the seventh floor of Rhodes Hall. She diligently cleans patient rooms, wiping surfaces and removing dust. But she provides more than a clean room. She lends a caring ear and a kind heart, talking with patients during their challenging times.

These little moments of kindness have made her a favorite with patients.

“People cross paths for a reason, and I was certainly blessed by having you cross mine,” one patient wrote recently. “She gave me a get-well card that made my day.”

Massan says it’s easy to care when you think of others as extensions of your own family. She thanks relatives and friends for accompanying patients through tough times in their lives.

“When our dad was in the Ross [Heart Hospital], she was so kind and concerned for us,” writes another on Facebook. “She always had a big smile and offered hugs and encouragement.”

Massan says she notices the family members who accompany and visit patients. That’s where she takes her cues as to the family’s willingness to talk.

“I see how the family looks,” she says. “If one person’s sick in the family, that makes everybody sick. I talk to the family to help them be strong.

“Sometimes they think that the patient can’t make it. I say, ‘No, we don’t know how we come, and we don’t know how we are going to go back.’ The doctors try their best. Families need to be strong and fight for the one who’s on the bed because when they’re strong, the patient is stronger, too.”

Massan grew up with five sisters in the small, French-speaking country along Africa’s western coast. She says her mother kept a tidy house and instilled in her a passion for hard work and kindness toward others.

Massan’s manager Seth Gerth, director of Environmental Services Patient Experience, says she’s invaluable.

“She goes above and beyond, jumping right in when we need a room cleaned,” he says. “She’s very passionate about her job and the patients she interacts with. She always asks how my mom and family are doing, and I always love that she asks that.”

She arrives early for her shifts. She smiles while cleaning patient rooms, then pauses to write her name and department phone number on white boards in case a patient needs something.

“It’s a difficult moment when you’re in the hospital,” she says. “It’s not a hotel.”

As a result of her kindness and attentiveness, patients often request that she visit them before they leave the hospital.

One recent patient wrote that she felt like crying after Massan was so kind to her.

“When you spoke to me your voice sounded like a sweet melody that was meant for only me to hear. Your sweet smile and all that came with it, in that small window of pure kindness, will be a memory that will remain with me always.”

It’s all in a day’s work for Massan.

“I laugh, cry and pray with them,” she says. “If you give yourself to somebody, it’s easier for that person to give themselves to you.”