In Honor of Mom: Yoga Instructor Volunteering at UConn Health

Andrea Comstock-Tague, of West Hartford, and originally from Cromwell, is a local yoga instructor in West Hartford and Rocky Hill. But she is giving back as a volunteer to UConn Health in honor of her late mother Betty Comstock who absolutely loved working with its doctors and patients for over thirty years.

“Strong” Betty, also a patient of Dr. Patrick Coll in the UConn Center on Aging, sadly passed away just in February after battling dementia for more than 12 years.

As a UConn Health administrative clerk for three decades, Betty loved helping patients, scheduling their appointments, and meeting any of their follow-up needs. She worked mainly in Neurology and toward the end of her career she even assisted Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon Dr. Hilary Onyiuke.

Betty was great with patients and always very dedicated. She even helped translate for the doctors and Spanish speaking patients. She was originally from Cuba.

“My mom loved it at UConn Health,” heartwarmingly recalls her daughter. “She was proud to work at UConn. It was her home away from home. UConn was a big part of her life, and all of our family’s lives.”

Betty exemplified the public service mission of UConn Health. She was a giver.

“If I sum it up, my mom was a lovely person and gave to everybody,” says Comstock-Tague. “That’s why I want to give back to UConn Health. They were so good to my Mom, and us!”

Comstock-Tague and her older sister, while in school, even worked during the summers at UConn Health too.

In honor of her mother, Comstock-Tague has started teaching yoga for free as a volunteer at UConn Health to support the health care workforce’s wellness, and also for teaching opportunities inside the community at UConn Health events.

She volunteered during UConn Health’s 2023 Employee Appreciation Week teaching classes and is partnering with the Wellness Committee and Wellness Center to bring more group yoga to the community. She will also teach yoga at the UConn & UConn Health Community Walk event on June 8 in Bushnell Park

“I want to give part of me back to UConn given my Mom was so connected to UConn Health,” says Comstock-Tague. “It means a lot to give back to UConn in anyway I can.”

She stresses that yoga is so good for your health, and even her own personal well-being too.

“I find such peace in yoga. My solitude is practicing yoga. Yoga gives the opportunity to take time to focus on yourself and your overall well-being. I hope to gift those working at UConn Health the same kind of peace I find in doing yoga, so they can use it to their own advantage,” Comstock-Tague says.

Following Betty’s passing, all donations in her memory were made to UConn Health’s Janet E. McElhaney Fund for Aging Research and Geriatric Medicine with the goal of helping other older adults like her live fuller lives.

Not only did the UConn Center on Aging help Betty battle her dementia, but as a dedicated health care professional at Connecticut’s public academic medical center, UConn Health, Betty truly believed in the power of its medical research and education.

Betty, thank you for all your service to UConn Health! And your family’s.

Your legacy of helping others surely carries on.