Whether It’s Students or Seniors, Priscilla Loves to Serve Others
For Priscilla Omegba, variety is the spice of life. She’s helping both the young as an elementary substitute teacher and the old as an award-winning CAREGiver℠ for owner Bill Dahlquist’s Home Instead® franchise of Denver South. Priscilla, who has worked for Home Instead since June 11, 2015, is one of the franchise’s CAREGivers of the Month.
“I have a good combination of taking care of the opposite ends of society’s groups who need the assistance with learning or remaining safely in their homes. When I came back after the summer with Home Instead, I told a professor that I had a nice mix of jobs,” said Priscilla, who also is aiming for a master’s degree in social work.
Priscilla is a licensed professional educator who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood education. She has worked with school districts in the Denver area since 2014. “As a sub, I consider myself as one of the ‘moving parts’ of education who helps keep everything going. I sometimes take long-term assignments when a teacher is out for such things as maternity leave and illnesses as well as stepping in when there are school-year resignations. I’ve worked a lot in special education classes and preschool classes. I am a patient person,” Priscilla explained.
That patience also has been a key to Priscilla’s success as a CAREGiver. “For Home Instead,” she said, “I take summer hours when school is out and also weekend hours. I formerly worked for another senior-care company, and one of the staff members moved to Home Instead. I was interested in following her. She went to work for a Home Instead office in Wheat Ridge, but it was too far for me to go. The staff member who employed me in the Wheat Ridge franchise called and introduced me to Denver South franchise, and I got transferred here.”
Priscilla’s best moments with Home Instead clients have come when she can make a client happy despite the client’s challenges and circumstances. “I can keep a client safe and help them achieve independence as much as it’s possible. I give them their dignity. I also give them their space if that’s what they want. We CAREGivers are there for them,” Priscilla said. “There are all different kinds of clients and challenges. I do both regular and fill-in shifts for Home Instead. I helped one client for more than two years before the client passed away. I am with some clients for three weeks, a month, six months. I like making new relationships.”
Priscilla had been helping a 63-year-old hospice client for about a month on Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday nights before she passed away. “She was diagnosed with cancer and was in a wheelchair. My shift was from 8:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.
She didn’t complain of pain. She had medications. She told me her life’s stories. We talked about anything in the world. Home Instead sent a CAREGiver for nights. Her twin sister and a friend took care of her during the days,” Priscilla explained.
Asked if she ever feels fatigued, Priscilla said, “Not really. I recharge on Sundays, when I sleep in. Where I am working in a school system, there are no on-site classes on Fridays, just online learning for reasons related originally to COVID-19, so there are no teacher shifts for me that day. I lost the subbing totally when the schools went to total online or remote learning in March 2020 because of COVID-19. Some schools came back to on-site learning in August and September. All of the elementary schools are back, but not all middle schools or high schools. If I have the opportunity to work for Home Instead when fill-in shifts come up, I’ll take them.”
Priscilla is happy to serve as part of the CAREGiver team for Bill’s award-winning 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.
Priscilla 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 Priscilla live 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 (303) 389-5700 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
