Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Joey Delamater unexpectedly found a perfect rhythm with one of his clients, a man in his 90s. “He plays drums with me!” Joey exclaimed.
When Joey first met the client, it was for two fill-in shifts, and nothing more had been scheduled. But that changed. Joey recalled: “On our second shift together, I brought my djembe (African hand drum) to show him, and I played it for him. I let him play it too, and I could tell he was in tune with exploring the dynamics of different subtle sounds you can play.”
Joey added: “He got so excited that he bought his own djembe and put in a request to Home Instead for me to come every week so we could play drums together! Now he has his own high quality djembe, a darbuka (a Middle Eastern hand drum) and a melodic steel drum.”
Often during their time together, Joey and his client will play for the entire 30 minutes. “It really enlivens the mood for us and gets us into a very creative zone. It is really inspiring to see a man in his 90s pick up a new instrument and get so involved with it. We get very experimental and exploratory with our playing, so it never gets old,” Joey said.
In January 2025, Joey joined Home Instead of Boulder, Broomfield and northwest Adams Counties. The award-winning franchise is based in Louisville, where Michael Lammers has been the owner since July 2015. Joey was honored as Care Pro of the Month in September. “There are many things I love about my work. I love the eclectic mix. Since I am always doing all sorts of different things to help my clients, my days rarely ever feel boring or get old,” Joey explained.
Joey enjoys the opportunity to get creative with his clients. “I love that aspect of the job. I get to find ways to fill time and share good space with my clients in the moments where we don’t have a specific directive and are just hanging out,” Joey said.
In addition to his hand drum, Joey often brings a guitar to his shifts and will play music and sing songs for his clients. “I like to hear about old music they love, and I learn to play and sing those songs. That can often feel as if it deepens our connection. It also brings us into a nice genuine space where we spend time together, enjoying the moment and are not locked into a strict worker-client dynamic. That way, sometimes we can just spend time together as two people sharing space,” he said.
Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Brenda Munro said Home Instead is thrilled with Joey’s winsome ways. She said his deft touch with clients is astounding. “Joey is a relatively new Care Pro, but he is literally rocking it,” Brenda said. “My favorite story about Joey, of course, is how he uses his musical background as part of his companionship caregiving. After a few weeks of practicing the drums with one of his clients, the client’s care coordinator and I visited on a Sunday morning while Joey was on shift so they could put on a concert for us.”
Joey’s journey to Home Instead is as unique as his personality. Near the end of 2024, Joey had just moved back to Colorado after taking some time to travel. Joey said: “My top choice for work was elder care. I searched online on sites like Indeed.com and found Home Instead. I interviewed for two companies and decided to go with Home Instead after getting a better feeling about the company through the interview.”
Joey has completed two years of college, and he plans to go back soon to finish his degree in psychology. Joey explained: “I’ve always been driven toward humanitarian work. When I was 5 years old, I remember saying I wanted to become a psychologist.” Both of Joey’s parents are therapists. He had considered becoming a therapist for many years, and he still keeps it in mind.
“My career vision has been somewhat more general than that. More than anything specific, I’ve always known I want to work directly with people in some capacity, offering a therapeutic bent of an otherwise helpful service,” Joey said. “I’ve always wanted to find work that directly benefits the well-being of others.”
He added: “Since I have had this time in between schooling, I’ve wanted to find something in line with my future career goals that I can do in the present while I am on the way toward an eventual career, whatever it may be.”
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.
