Toenyan Continues Her Caregiving

Verna Toenyan with her friend Kathy Peters, at the Annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner held on April 11 at the Clarissa Ballroom. Toenyan has been a tireless grant writer who has helped keep the Todd County Council on Aging program going.

by Karin L. Nauber

karin@inhnews.com

For many people across Todd County and central Minnesota, the name Verna Toenyan is already familiar. For years, she has quietly become one of the people families turn to during some of the hardest and most uncertain moments of their lives.

Whether through her work with Horizon Health, the Todd County Council on Aging or now through her appointment to the Todd County HRA Board, Verna has built a life centered around helping others navigate change, caregiving, aging, and loss with dignity and support.

“This is how I’m wired,” Verna said. “I love helping people through hard seasons.”

That simple statement explains a lifetime of service.

Over the years, Verna has worked closely with seniors, caregivers, and families throughout the region. In that time, she has seen firsthand what many caregivers quietly carry every day. Behind closed doors, countless people are balancing work schedules, doctor appointments, medications, meals, transportation, and emotional stress while still trying to hold together their own lives and families.

“Caregivers carry a lot alone,” she explained. “Many people don’t ask for help until they are completely overwhelmed.”

In Verna’s eyes, a caregiver is not just someone working in healthcare. A caregiver may be an adult daughter helping her mother after surgery. A husband caring for his wife with memory loss. A neighbor stepping in to help with groceries or medications. Many are unpaid. Many are exhausted. Most never think of themselves as caregivers at all...

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