Carkeshia Just Wants to Help Seniors in Need
Many years before there was a Home Instead® network of award-winning professional senior-care franchises, Carkeshia’s family members established a kinship group mantra: None of their senior loved ones would be placed in a nursing home. With that generational promise etched in her mind, Carkeshia was intrigued when she saw an Indeed.com post for owner Glenna Yaroch’s Home Instead® franchise that serves North Oakland County. Maybe, Carkeshia thought, she could assist seniors who wanted to remain in their homes but needed help doing so.
“I had never worked in professional senior care. I’m a full-time licensed massage therapist (LMT). My ‘caregiving’ or ‘health-care’ background comes from some schooling in Ohio and when my grandmother became diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. I have always seen my family care for our senior loves ones, and I was honored to participate as a family caregiver,” explained Carkeshia, an Ohio native. “It was a pleasure to help my grandmother, but it also was sad to see her mental and physical condition go downhill from Alzheimer’s.”
In 2018, Carkeshia joined Home Instead, whose office is in Waterford, Michigan, and whose territory includes Clarkston, West Bloomfield and 15 other communities. Gail M. Wilk is the Home Instead franchise’s general manager, and Gail announced that Carkeshia was honored as CAREGiver of the Month.
Gail said: “Carkeshia is among the group of three CAREGivers we recently honored, and I love them. They are seasoned CAREGivers and our silent heroes. They are loved by their clients, go to work and help when needed. There is never an issue with them. They care for their clients and always go the extra mile.”
In addition to her strong companionship skills, Carkeshia provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. Carkeshia and other CAREGivers offer personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, dementia support, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility. By expertly doing so, CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
For Carkeshia, touching lives impacts her soul, whether she’s providing physical help such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders or personal care or if she is offering emotional support in a companionship role.
Carkeshia said: “The reason I chose to become a senior-care worker is the chance to help people. The career field is full of excitement, and you’ll never live the same day twice. Plus, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world because there will always be people in need of help. Working as a CAREGiver can provide benefits that are emotional, psychological and spiritual. You can feel pride, self-fulfillment, added confidence and other feelings outside the realm of materiality.”
Carkeshia loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the owner Glenna’s franchise, a member of a highly successful network founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Paul and Lori Hogan. The Home Instead network is the world’s leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually throughout the U.S. and 13 other countries.
Carkeshia is among more than 90,000 CAREGivers worldwide, and she has helped add to those numbers because of her strong belief in Home Instead’s purpose. It isn’t hard to see Carkeshia lives the Home Instead® principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (248) 886-7300 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
