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By DAISY WASHINGTON / Community Columnist

Although she has officially retired from full-time employment as a registered nurse, 68-year-old Evelyn Jones continues her mission of healing others through nursing.

A resident of Calera for the past eight years, Jones conducts medical assessments for In Good Hands Homecare. She is responsible for physical and neurological evaluation of patients, working with patient families and designing care plans. A large part of her part time position is social interaction with patients, which is the highlight of her profession. In addition to her direct work with patients, Jones conducts in-service seminars on using medical equipment from her home which cover such topics as the use of a Hoyer lift, wheelchair transfer, use of a slide board and waist strap. In addition, seminars which provide instruction relating to communicating effectively with patients.
For the past 12 years, Evelyn has donated her time and administrative skill to her church, Faith Chapel Christian Center in Birmingham. She responded gladly when asked to assist the 4,000 membership church’s visitor services. Her role in the three-step visitor process is to communicate with every new visitor and evaluate their specific needs and interest (baptism, membership, etc.). She began volunteering in this capacity three years ago. Two years ago, she invented an activity that addresses the needs of senior married couples. Information on topics such as health, safety, is provided through seminars. Her brainchild project also includes social events. Evelyn is about to take on another activity which she has coined Life Group: the Shelby County Movies, Books and Prayer Club. The goal of the faith-based group is to support and inspire women of all walks of life by ministering to their physical, social and spiritual needs.
Evelyn’s love affair with her husband, Eric began four decades ago. “He treats me like a queen. Whatever I need, he gives me,” she proclaimed joyfully. In 2012 they began building their dream house. Eric wanted land and Evelyn wanted to be near water where she could find inspiration and solitude to engage in one of her favorite pastimes, writing. Eric is making use of the advantage of being near lots of water by learning how to fish.
She spends her spare time gardening and sharing her time with her canine companion, a pit bull named Shadow. “I love my knock-out roses,” she chucked. She has also developed the talent of furniture staining and has completed staining of several pieces of outdoor furniture.