Mary Garman has a very distinct voice, which is good, because until recently I had only ever interacted with her over the phone. But she looks as she sounds, all smiles and warm eyes, wrapped in a Home Instead embroidered shirt, and just as kind in person as I expected. She’s a staple at Home Instead, one of the first care professionals ever hired by our location.
She’s been a caregiver with Home Instead for 25 years. She even knows the date of her anniversary and can tell you she found out about Home Instead from a very specific place: an ad in the newspaper. After raising three kids and working as an aid for disabled children, she figured she’d try her hand at another generation. And 25 years later, she’s still at it.
When I asked her what the biggest thing she’s learned as a caregiver is, she laughed. “You learn patience,” she said, a common thread through our entire conversation. And she embodies it; Mary is small, but her impact, her laughter, fills the room. I can easily imagine her with her clients, a calming force in a world that can be more scary than not.
She emphasized that the most important thing is the relationship with the client; there has to be trust. The relationship is just as important to the clients we care for as it is to the caregiver. ”They want to know who is in their home,” Mary said. “So be patient, and don’t move their stuff around.”
And after 25 years, Mary knows a thing or two about client-caregiver relationships. She’s had clients chase her around their home, clients who wouldn’t open their doors to her, who sent her packing only an hour or two into her time with them. But she’s also had clients she worked with for seven and a half years, who have told her she’s family within hours of meeting them. Her favorites were a couple who would sit on the couch and hold hands every day. “The older they are, the more memories they have,” she told me fondly. “And the more they’re willing to share.”
I asked her if it was difficult, especially after dozens of clients, to keep being a caregiver. And she said it was, but ultimately it was worth it. “Someday we’ll all be in that place,” she said, with the kind of compassion that only 25 years of taking care of other people can give you.
And when we are, all we can hope for is someone with a kind voice who will show us a bit of patience and, of course, not move our stuff around.
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.
