At Home Instead Senior Care, we know that caring for a senior isn't always easy.
Every day, all across the country, people juggle the demands of their busy lives. Jobs, children, and dozens of other activities all compete for time. And then mom or dad gets sick or otherwise needs in-home help.
These seniors' adult children - the ones who typically end up as their caregivers - are referred to as the "sandwich generation," caught between providing for their own young families and assisting their aging parents. They're already stretched to the limit, and the strain shows no sign of easing. That's largely because of numbers; by the year 2030, 70 million Americans - 20 percent of the population - will be over the age of 65.
In anticipation of this tremendous need, in 1994 Nebraskans Lori and Paul Hogan co-founded Home Instead Senior Care.
In fact, they opened the company's very first office in Omaha to assist other local families like theirs. You see, Paul's grandmother, Eleanor Manhart of Omaha, was an active widow and grandmother with a large extended family. When she was in her 90s, the family - including Lori and Paul - began providing a little extra assistance to keep her safe and independent. This worked extremely well for Mrs. Manhart, significantly improving her activity levels and quality of life in her later years. And, because her family was so large - and nearby - the members were able to share these caregiving responsibilities quite effectively.
But this situation made Lori and Paul wonder about those other families - locally, and later, nationally - that had similar senior care requirements, but didn't have enough members actually to provide this care. Or, what about those families in which the adult children lived hundreds or even thousands of miles away from their parents or other older relatives?
Thus, Home Instead Senior Care was born. In fact, the company began with little more than the Hogans' unique home care idea for seniors. However, just over a decade later, the company now finds itself the unquestioned leader in the international non-medical senior care industry, with more than 800 independently owned and operated offices throughout the world. Here are some global statistics:
- More than 50,000 CAREGivers;
- Hundreds of thousands of clients served; and,
- 20 million hours of service delivered annually.
While the locations - and even the cultures and languages - within the Home Instead Senior Care network may now be very diverse, the company's high-quality non-medical services remain similar worldwide: for example, light housework, meal preparation, medication reminders, transportation, errands, shopping, and even companionship - among many others.
The Home Instead CAREGivers who provide these services to clients are truly the hearts and hands of the company. What exactly it is that motivates these people to do their jobs so well and so consistently? Why do they turn up day after day - or sometimes, night after night - to provide the best care in the industry?
Well, of course, they're caring people - people much like you - who represent a variety of ages, backgrounds and interests. Not surprisingly, we've found that some of the best CAREGivers are themselves older, mature individuals - many of whom already have served as informal caregivers for family and friends. In fact, about three-quarters of all CAREGivers bring with them this type of real-life experience with them to their work for Home Instead Senior Care.
And, while our CAREGivers are paid for the valuable services that they provide, for them, caregiving fulfills a more significant personal mission to help keep seniors safe and comfortable in their homes - a mission that brings a wealth of rewards for these clients and their CAREGivers. In fact, 95 percent of them say they get their highest job satisfaction from helping others.
Don Weiman, a CAREGiver in Denver, CO, and the 2005 West Region "CAREGiver of the Year," provides a shining example of dedication to this ideal. A prostate cancer survivor, he was diagnosed after just two months as a Home Instead CAREGiver; however, he decided to work right through his radiation treatments.
"I think that working really kept my mind off of it," Weiman said. "I could focus. When I'm with someone I'm in their world. A shell closes around us." Said franchise owner Bill Dahlquist of Weiman, "It just speaks volumes to the kind of person he is - someone with a tremendous amount of caring."
So when a person becomes a member of the Home Instead Senior Care family, he or she is part of a very important, well-run team.
With that in mind, you might ask how CAREGivers learn the techniques and approaches necessary to be so effective? Well, this is a result of the company's training program, which sets the standard for the entire senior care industry. In fact, the video you just watched is an important early element of this program.
The Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiver Education Program is newly revised and restructured to contain the most current advice and guidance - information that helps the company's CAREGivers excel in all facets of non-medical client care.
This ongoing program addresses issues such as the basics of being a CAREGiver - for instance, communicating with seniors, and planning activities with them; recognizing senior illnesses and depression; and even safety training. In addition, regular CAREGiver meetings allow these professionals the opportunity to share with and learn from each other. And, our franchise office is available any time to help answer questions and provide support.
In short, CAREGivers are trained to be difference makers, touching the lives of those they care for in powerful and profound ways. Thus, 99 percent of CAREGivers say that being involved in the lives of their clients has helped these seniors stay independent and in their homes longer.
For example, Alec Rogers, a Home Instead CAREGiver from Northbrook, IL, recently reached the pinnacle of his profession by being honored by Home Instead Senior Care as the 2006 Mary Steibel "CAREGiver of the Year."
A Ph.D. plant pathologist and former researcher for DuPont, he has lived or traveled all over the world. However, Rogers' favorite place is right at home in suburban Chicago - close to his clients. In fact, he even foregoes what for years had been an annual winter trip to Florida with his wife. She now travels south when the cold weather arrives, while Rogers stays behind to tend to his caregiving responsibilities.
"I love the work. It keeps me young," he said. "As a Home Instead CAREGiver, I'm serving my clients, their families, and the Lord," Rogers said. Not surprisingly, he doesn't do it for the money, since he donates his paychecks to charity.
So you can see that Home Instead CAREGivers are naturally compassionate individuals who put their clients at ease and who are overwhelmingly accepted into their homes and lives.
For example, one of Rogers' major clients is a retired doctor, with whom he lives when this physician's wife travels. In this case, CAREGiver and client have formed a very strong bond. "Once, I was bent over tying 'Doc's' shoelaces and he kissed me on the top of the head," Rogers explained. "When I asked him why he did this, he said, 'Because you take better care of me than my brother would'."
He talks with great appreciation of his time as a CAREGiver, saying, "I've been enriched - through the satisfaction I gain by fulfilling the needs of my clients - by giving them full measure and helping them retain their independence, dignity, and self-respect. It has been the most rewarding and satisfying stage of my entire 75 years of richly blessed living."
The job of a CAREGiver is a wonderful, flexible job for anyone who loves seniors, and, what's more, it's a career that can be adapted to a variety of lifestyles and needs. You can practically set your own hours. There's no certification required, but you will be bonded and insured.
Without a doubt, Home Instead CAREGivers set the standard for the rest of the senior care industry: extraordinarily kind, caring people who are carefully selected and then thoroughly trained. They truly are the best of the best.
Just ask Ann LaReau of Wilmington, NC, the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Region's CAREGiver of the Year. "You have no idea how proud I am to work for Home Instead Senior Care. We always act and look like absolute professionals," she said. "There's no one in this industry that can touch our services. In my mind, we're incomparable."
See our CAREGivers of the Month and CAREGivers of the Year
