Many years ago, as a nursing assistant in Boston, Lillie Edwards was given some advice about working in a nursing home.

“Treat the residents like you’d want your mother to be treated.”

And that’s what she tries to do, every single day.

Edwards began working at Andalusia Health Care in 1987 as an LPN. Ten years ago, at age 56, she went back to school to become an RN, and continues to work at Andalusia Manor.

“I wanted to always be a nurse,” she said, adding that she was inspired as a little girl by the magazine images of Red Cross nursing helping others.

“I love it,” she said of her job. “We try to make the residents’ lives as comfortable as possible.

“And we learn a lot from our residents,” she said. “We are with them every day, and they become our family.”

Like other members of her family, she thinks about residents when she goes home, and considers what she and others could do differently or better for them.

Part of her job is to reassure family members.

“We’re gonna take care of them, and treat them like family,” she said. “We’re going to do all we can to make their lives as comfortable as possible.

“And I would tell familes, ‘If you see something we can do that we’re not doing then come to us. If we can do anything to help, we will.’ ”

When she began working in Andalusia, she commuted from Lockhart. In 2006, she moved to Andalusia.

One of the joys of her job is that she works alongside her daughter, Andalusia Manor administrator Trece Mayes. Her son John is a detention officer and son Eric works in forestry. She also has three grandchildren.

In her free time, she enjoys her church, Florala Church of Christ; shopping, and traveling, especially spending time with family.