Anyone who visits Morningside at the Manor will likely be greeted by Eloise Ramirez, who is the Concierge Supervisor at the front reception desk. If you’re lucky, you might also get to meet her well-mannered shih tzu, Trish! Eloise is a stalwart Morningside employee who has been with the organization for four decades, starting in 1983 right after finishing high school at Memorial. Eloise had accompanied her high school friend who had gone over to Morningside to apply for a CNA class. At the time, Billy Civik was the director from the CNA class and encouraged Eloise to apply as well. To her surprise, she was hired as a CNA. She received her certificate and worked for six years during the night shift.
In 1989, she had to have major surgery, and Morningside and Administrator Glen Brown were very understanding and compassionate about her situation. When the doctor released her to full duty after her surgery, Eloise was apprehensive about the physical aspect of her position. Her supervisor suggested a position in admin as a switchboard operator handling calls and making announcements. Although she froze during a test announcement, she eventually got the hang of it. Later she was promoted to Concierge Supervisor, where she managed three other operators. Her duties included managing the eight-line switchboard, assisting residents and employees with calls, and assisting with physician signatures and faxing medical records to the correct facility.
In her current position as Concierge Supervisor, she now handles the phone system (which she still considers a switchboard), assists the corporate office, helping Trudy with business mail and checks, assists visitors with signing into kiosks, and helps with Manor activity calendars and putting them on TouchTown. She also multitasks doing work orders with the facilities, monitoring fire alarms, announcing codes and paging over the PA system, updating the resident directory for the Manor, and working with all departments.
Eloise says Morningside has been very important to her and wanted to mention how understanding Morningside is when it comes to personal circumstances. When her mother and father got sick, Morningside was always flexible and compassionate toward her to go and tend to their needs before they passed away. She also has many fond memories of conversations with residents, telling her what they used to do in their youth, whether it was dancing or singing. She had a great friendship and work lunch buddy Terry Uresti, who was a staff coordinator at Morningside who passed from cancer.
She also remembers when Morningside employees used to eat on the second floor of the Manor and when there used to be arcade games at the back of the dining room (Centipede and Miss Pac Man). She also says there used to be an employee cafeteria which included a whole glass telephone booth with a bench for making private phone calls. She also remembers when residents at Unit 5 used to hold a pep rally when the Spurs would play and the news would come to cover the senior pep rally. Famed Spurs player David Robinson “The Admiral” also used to come by every Christmas to give residents gifts, and he didn’t have an entourage.
Outside of work, Eloise likes to garden and do work in her yard. She grows crepe myrtles, rosebushes, red tips, and lemon trees. She has one son named Jesus who is 30 and married, but has no children yet. She is close to family though they are spread apart. She grew up in a big family, with six brothers and sisters – a brother in San Antonio, a sister and brother in Houston, a sister in Floresville, and two siblings out of state, including a brother in Tennessee and a sister in Virginia. She takes her baby shih Tzu Trish to work. The residents love the well-behaved Trish, who doesn’t bark but likes to play and sleep.
