- November 14, 2024
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When it comes to senior citizens, Tina Carlyle has dedicated her life to being their advocate.
Having been raised by her grandmother since she was 8 years old in Ormond Beach, she watched how seniors are often taken advantage of — whether it's by insurance companies, scammers or other people — and she knew she wanted to prevent that as much as possible.
Her grandmother meant a lot to her.
"She just taught me so much," Carlyle said. "She taught me the value of life. She taught me the value and the desire to just be excellent and great, and just always put your best foot forward."
So that's what Carlyle, owner of Access Senior Resources and Consulting LLC, has been doing.
An advanced practice registered nurse with over 27 years of health care experience, Carlyle founded a group called SNAP, which stands for Senior Network Advocate Providers, in 2005. Carlyle also owns Angel's Senior Living, an assisted living facility in Port Orange. She sits on the board for the Florida Assisted Living Association and is the northeastern regional director for the association. Carlyle is also part of the Daytona Beach Black Nurses Association.
In 2010, Carlyle joined the city of Ormond Beach Martin Luther King Jr. committee, which holds an annual breakfast to celebrate King's legacy. She became the chair of the committee about eight years ago.
And recently, she became the president of the Volusia Flagler Advanced Practice Nursing Council, an association she's been a part of for 18 years.
"I love giving back to the community," Carlyle said. "I love giving back to seniors. I love being an advocate for seniors. I'm very passionate about seeing people thrive."
Carlyle moved to Ormond Beach in the 1980s after her mother killed in Michigan.
Tina Carlyle is the heart and pulse of this community and she does so much on so many different levels. With the young people, with the Martin Luther King Day celebration for the city along with the Black Nurses Association, the assisted living for senior citizens who don't have a place — she does so much." — GEORGE WARD, 2023 STANDING O
Her mother was shot during a robbery. Carlyle said she lived for about a year after, but died since the bullet grazed the area near her heart, which caused further complications.
"Her character, her integrity, what she stood for — that meant a lot to me," Carlyle said of her mother. "The fact that she wanted my sister and I to really grow up to be beautiful, prosperous young ladies."
That's a goal her grandmother then took on, pushing for Carlyle and her sister to get a college education and become good citizens.
At age 14, Carlyle got pregnant with her son Brandon. But she didn't let that stop her from reaching her goals.
"I am most proud of keeping my son at such a young age," she said. "Having him actually helped to really shape my life back to where it should have been. It kept me on task and it kept me focused to know that I had somebody to live for."
She graduated from Seabreeze High School and later from Bethune-Cookman University with a bachelor's in nursing. Then, she obtained her master's degree in nursing from University of Phoenix.
I love giving back to the community. I love giving back to seniors. I love being an advocate for seniors. I'm very passionate about seeing people thrive." —TINA CARLYLE, STANDING O 2024
One phrase that Carlyle lives by is "Never allow history to determine your destiny."
"I don't know where I got it from — I think I made it up, I really do," Carlyle said. " ... And I say [the phrase] because again, I have a past. It's not a bad past, but you know having a child young ... I never let that determine the destiny that I had for myself."
Carlyle said her favorite way to give back to the community is through education and training.
"Teaching, training and education is so big for me because I think it sheds light on people," she said.
One of the biggest roadblocks these days, she said, is that oftentimes these trainings aren't free, especially when it comes to senior care, and caregivers and nursing assistants can't afford them.
So she tries to share knowledge as often as she can, and the words spoken to her by Kay Maley at 19 years old have stuck with her through the years. Maley was a vice president of a company at the time, and she encouraged Carlyle to keep educating herself and going to school."
"She said, 'Because your mouth is very powerful,'" Carlyle recalled. "And it offended me, because I knew I had a smart mouth."
Carlyle said she didn't fully understand what Maley meant until she she was older: That Carlyle had a knack for speaking to people and being able to reach them.
"I love being a resource for the community," she said. "I will tell you and anybody: Give my number out to whoever you want to. If I can be a resource to help someone — one person, two people, every single day, whether it's based on what their medical condition is and give them some insight on proper dieting or proper health care. My goal is to educate the masses, to be a resource, to be a plethora of information for the community."
