Anita’s Empathy Helps Keep Client on a Positive Track
Care Professional Anita Dunford’s 91-year-old client, a military veteran who is usually the embodiment of determination, was feeling adverse physical and emotional effects of his physical therapy exercises one day. He turned to Anita and said, “You know and I know I’m not getting any better.” Anita replied, “I know that, but we all have our time ahead of us. Just let us love you and take care of you, and enjoy our time together.” The client responded by showing a smile of contentment.
The scene confirmed why Anita was selected as Care Pro of the Month at Home Instead® of Mount Airy, North Carolina, where Van and Ann Lankford are the franchise owners. Empathy and compassion are strongly considered for the award, as well as skill and wisdom for dealing with challenging situations. Anita embodies Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart,” the Home Instead staff said.
The Home Instead job was Anita’s first foray into professional senior care after a solid working career of many varied occupations. “I’ve done a lot of different kinds of work. I could operate a forklift all day long. Above all, I am a people-person. I love working with people. I show a lot of empathy to people who need it. When I get home after a shift, I feel good – I feel as if I had a purpose in life each day and made a difference for someone,” said Anita, who found Home Instead during an internet job search and joined the award-winning franchise in May 2024.
Anita added: “Home Instead’s training helped. It gave me a good bit of broad knowledge that would be needed in almost each situation. But I also have a natural caregiving instinct. I have taken care of family. When my daddy was in the hospital, I went to sit with him when I was 14 years old. I was a family caregiver for some of the time.”
Last October, Anita lost a sister to cancer in Oklahoma. “Home Instead allowed me to go, which I appreciated. The hospice facility let me stay with my sister Crystal since she was passing away. I stayed from Friday to Sunday. I wanted her to receive the best care possible at the end of her life, so I was more than willing to take care of her, meet her needs and be there for her. The hospice nurse shared her skills and ability when things became challenging for my sister. On that Sunday, my sister passed away. My sister fought hard. She previously had beaten breast and throat cancer. She couldn’t beat lung cancer.”
For Anita, her clients feel like family. “I’ve been with my client since May. I love this couple dearly. They are good people. I like them, and the feeling is mutual. They have family nearby, including a grandson and his wife, who is a nurse. Two daughters also live near them. They treat me well. The husband is my client, and his wife is not. But make no mistake about it, most things I do to help the husband really benefit his wife, too, just as they should,” Anita said. “He has been hospitalized three times, but he just keeps bouncing back.”
Anita assists the client six days a week. “Among his medical challenges,” Anita said, “I have a sheet of directions to follow each day. For example, I check his oxygen level every 15 minutes when he is sleeping. He has a walker and does pretty well with it. A physical therapist comes to the home, works with him to help his mobility and leaves an exercise sheet. I try to help him exercise and try to get him to walk twice a day. He walks mostly inside. If the weather is good, we go outside.”
Anita is busy from the moment she arrives until she leaves. In addition to medical condition monitoring, there’s meal preparation, light housekeeping and medication reminders. “I do make time for socialization. I asked him once if he wanted to play checkers. He didn’t, but he told me he’d beat me if he did,” Anita said with a laugh. “I like his stories. He tells me about growing up in the Great Depression. From his stories, I have learned a lot about history of those times and how he and his family coped with life’s challenges.”
Anita loves being a part of the Care Pro team for the Surry County franchise, a member of the world’s largest home-care network and the most advanced care platform. “For me,” Anita said, “every situation is different. I can adapt. I know I am cut out for this work. I have a knack for it. I am absolutely good with the assignment I have.” Anita is among more than 100,000 Care Pros across 13 countries. They meet the growing needs of millions of older adults and their families worldwide. For Anita and her fellow Care Pros, touching lives impacts their souls, whether they are providing physical help such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders or personal care or if they are offering emotional support in a companionship role.
