Hamerti Melka

Nomination Story

"Hamerti Melka, better known as Amie, has spent more than a decade demonstrating that home‑based care in Newfoundland and Labrador is not a service. It is infrastructure. Under her operational leadership, TLC Nursing and Home Care Services experienced significant growth. Which was achieved through a global pandemic, through one of the most severe workforce shortages, and in the country’s oldest province. That spanned five regions, from urban centres to rural communities, proving that scale and quality are not mutually exclusive in home care. Through her active engagement with the Home Care Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, Amie worked directly on a provincial overtime policy committee, advocating for protections that allow home care workers to remain in the profession. Stable workers enable consistent care. Consistent care builds trust. In a province facing a historic workforce crisis, trust is not a soft outcome, it is the difference between a client remaining safely at home and a system pushed into crisis. Under her leadership, TLC achieved accreditation and was recognized by ANC as an Outstanding Employer. Across Newfoundland, an extended team of home support workers and coordinators from Corner Brook to Stephenville, Grand Falls to Rocky Harbour, Port aux Basques to St. John’s deliver on the promise of home‑based care every single day. Amie also serves as an Executive Board Member of the Home Care Association, contributing her operational insight at the provincial level. Amie came to Canada as a refugee. She built her career in a province where she is, and remains, the only Black woman at this level of home care leadership. She did not wait for a seat at the table she earned one by building trust within the communities she serves. Grounded in occupational health and safety and public health, and with a growing focus on how technology and AI can advance client care outcomes, Amie brings both deep operational expertise and forward‑looking vision to an industry in transformation. She leads with precision, with advocacy, and with an unwavering belief that home care is not a service it is infrastructure. And infrastructure requires leaders willing to fight for it at every level. When done right, it delivers dignity, stability, and the very best of humanity to those who need it most."