Nurse, veteran Eileen Luketina recognized for her compassion for others within region
The title “mother” is one that perfectly describes Turnersville’s Eileen Luketina. Luketina, a mother of three, is a nurse by trade and served as a nurse in the Air Force.
Her motherly nature and tendencies to show compassion to others has earned her the title of Heartland Hero, an honor bestowed to unique individuals who live in Atlantic, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties. NJHeartland.org states the honor is bestowed upon the people who make the heartland region “a great place to live, work, play and raise a family.”
Luketina was a nurse in some capacity while her sons grew up. Whether it was in the intensive care unit at Kennedy Hospital or doing home care, her passion is nursing.
One of her sons had an Air Force recruiter come to the house because he was interested in the service. Luketina’s inner mother came out, saying she wished there was a way for her to go with her son. The recruiter said she could join as a nurse, and before long, both had signed to serve their country, Luketina in a reserve unit, her son in an active duty unit. She enlisted as a captain because of her nursing experience.
“I joined a unit that never got deployed, or so they said,” she said. “I was deployed more than my son.”
In 2002, Luketina was in Afghanistan and was the officer in charge of a medical air crew in three countries. In 2003, she was back in Afghanistan, but based in Germany.
“I was the ‘mom’ of the unit,” she said. “It was entertaining for me too, I was like the enigma.”
Now Luketina is retired and left the Air Force as a major.
Despite retirement, helping others is something she never outgrew. She passed on her love of quilting to elderly people in nursing homes.
“I made up a thing called memory quilts,” Luketina said. “What I would do is put their history on their quilt and write it in. Things like when they got married, kids names, grandkids names,”
She did this because she noticed some elderly people in the intensive care unit were struggling to remember family or friends, so the memory quilt is there to help them remember.
The good deeds don’t stop there for Luketina. One day when she was driving with her husband, they noticed an elderly woman in their neighborhood struggling to bring a bag of trash to her curb and it broke her heart.
“I left her a note with my background,” Luketina said. “I lived here for 40 years, I’m a nurse. I gave her my cell phone number and said I can help put your trash out.”
The woman called her back and thanked her. She couldn’t believe someone offered to help. Luketina said they help with her trash and salt her driveway.
“It’s just being a good neighbor,” Luketina said. “We watch out for each other in the neighborhood.”
The two are friends now, Luketina said they talk on the phone and she just received a Christmas card from her.
Luketina’s sister took notice of her kind-hearted nature and nominated her for the Heartland Hero award.
“I thought it was sweet of her,” Eileen said.
But in the end, Luketina is not doing it for the accolades, she gives back because it’s the right thing to do.
“It feels good to do it, it feels great to do it,” she said. “The community is so important. They have a responsibility for each other. It takes a village.”
