Home Instead® Care Professional Jackie Deall had bottomed out in one of the deepest valleys of her life. The three-time Care Pro of the Month at Home Instead of Louisville, Colorado, was sad because she had lost a longtime client with whom she had built a special bond. “I love my clients, but she was the best client ever. I had built quite a relationship with her. We could talk for hours and hours,” Jackie recalled.
But Jackie’s low point wasn’t a totally emotional one. “When she passed away, I went through a really tough time. I had four surgeries on my left foot, a continuing episode that has been a nightmare. Coupled with the loss of my client and facing a prolonged recovery, I debated on whether to return to professional senior care,” added Jackie, one of the most honored Care Pros in the Home Instead franchise’s 25-year history with monthly awards in July 2020, October 2022 and November 2025.
“Director of Home Care Operations Melinda Pfanstiel took me under her wing, and we had many talks. I took time off to take care of myself. Melinda and the entire Home Instead office staff had my back. Melinda is amazing, and so is the office. They are good people,” Jackie explained. “In that time, I relearned how to walk. I had time to think and reflect. I missed my clients and was ready to give back to society and help seniors. So, I’ve been back for a short time. I am 68, but I am not ready to retire. Caregiving is part of who I am. It is something I need to do,” Jackie said.
Home Instead Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Brenda Munro said: “How can I even begin to describe Jackie? She’s been with us six years and has been a caregiver most of her life. She truly represents the best of what caregiving is all about. Jackie has a heart of gold, gives her all to every client and is loved by every family with whom she’s ever worked. She’s the best of the best. Dependable and compassionate, and she is always willing to go above and beyond. We’re so lucky to have her.”
Over the years, the stories about Jackie’s accomplishments have accumulated like the snowflakes on The Flatirons. Before a client began receiving help from Jackie nearly four years ago, the client had chosen to invoke the Colorado End-of-Life Option Act. The act allows an eligible terminally ill individual with a prognosis of six months or fewer to live to request and self-administer a medical aid-in-dying medication to voluntarily end his or her life. The client had an incurable brain disorder in which he had difficulty with walking, talking and performing other activities of daily living, actions that had become increasingly challenging.
“During our first conversations,” Jackie recalled, “he was ‘gung-ho’ about it. He said, ‘It’s time to go.’ He was very gentle, sweet, kind, social and thoughtful. He wrote poetry. In one perspective, he had worked in the medical field his entire life and totally understood his disease. The other perspective was that he knew what was coming next as his disease progressed.”
One day, the client asked Jackie what she thought about his situation. Jackie replied: “I said, ‘It’s your choice. You will live on in the memories of friends and family.’ That gave him comfort. He then said, ‘Tell me why I should still want to live.’ I said, ‘You are wonderful and have much to offer to the world, including your family and friends. I think you should live until you can’t.’ He had set a day and then decided to put it off after we talked.”
Jackie added: “He had no belief in souls or the afterlife. However, I have really strong beliefs. I am honest if I am asked what I think, but I am very careful with what I say. It’s not so much religious in nature. It’s what my heart believes.” Jackie had been in an end-of-life situation that ultimately called for a different conclusion. “In reality,” she said, “my mother had kind of the same story, only it was Alzheimer’s disease. When she was diagnosed, I got the medical and financial power of attorney because I knew a lot of decisions would have to be made.”
Eventually, Jackie was forced to move her mother to a memory care unit. “I was still working and trying to take care of her,” she said. The last time Jackie visited her 4-foot-11, 75-pound mother before she was bedridden, she went after Jackie and tried to punch her. As time went on, she was prone to nasty outbursts as a result of the dementia behaviors. “I had an honest talk with the head nurse. I wanted to have Mom taken off her medications except for her anti-psychotic medication. The nurse said, ‘But she will die.’ I said, ‘My mother has been dead for two years.’ Mom was in my arms when she drew her last breath Dec. 22, 2017, at 4 a.m.”
A year and a half later – in June 2019 – Jackie joined owner Michael Lammers’ award-winning Home Instead franchise of Boulder, Broomfield and northwest Adams Counties. Jackie was born in Boulder as a third-generation family member who grew up in the Flatirons city. Her great-grandparents immigrated from Cornwall, England, to Caribou, Colorado, a 10,000-foot elevation silver mining camp about 20 miles west of Boulder, before settling in Boulder.
Jackie’s work career includes child care and senior care. She also was a family caregiver at a young age. When Jackie was in middle school, she helped her grandmother. In fact, Jackie was the only family member who was allowed by her grandmother to feed and bathe her as well as provide other care. Jackie said, “I was her caregiver. The reality is, I am a born caregiver.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (720) 890-0184 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
