Care Professional of the Month

When Dianne and her husband moved from Longview, Texas, to the Plano area, in 2016, she already had accumulated plenty of professional senior-care experience. “I took five months off from work after we moved from Longview, and then I put my resume online where Home Instead found it and contacted me by phone,” Dianne explained.

She conducted two phone interviews with two office personnel and then was asked for an in-person interview. Dianne was hired, pending a background check. “Home Instead liked the fact that I love this line of work. In my previous senior-care job, I had only one other client, but I was with him for six years. The only reason I left him was because we moved, but I visited him when I got the chance. I didn’t have much experience until then. That was in 2010.”

Dianne explained the fulfillment she receives from her work. “I could not see myself doing any other job. I fall in love with helping people, especially the seniors. They have my heart, and I have learned so much from the many clients with whom I have been blessed. They not only let me into their homes but also let me into their lives. Some even let me into their hearts, and some look at me as family. So, yes, I am blessed,” Dianne said.

“Clarisa is very consistent and dedicated to her clients. Clarisa has been with her current client for a few years. The family just loves her and all she does for them,” Todd said. He and Mentor/Trainer Amanda Ross said they were honored to announce Clarisa had been selected as a Care Pro of the Month for the Dallas-area franchise. Compliments for Clarisa’s skillful and empathetic care have been no surprise.

Clarisa has been working as a professional caregiver since 1992, and she is glad to be a member of Collin County’s Care Pro team. “I had heard many people talk about their great experience with Home Instead, and I decided to check the company out,” Clarisa recalled.

When Jennifer viewed online job postings, she admitted experiencing a sinking feeling. Having been out of the workforce for so long, Jennifer didn’t think she had any qualifications for a resume, pointing out, “I was ‘a mom’ for 22 years!”

Jennifer recalled: “I got to the part on the online application where it asked for qualifications and work experience. I panicked. I did not know what to write, so I just quit the application. Within five minutes, my phone rang. It was a lady with Home Instead asking me why I did not complete the application. We talked, and she persuaded me to come in for an interview. I was hired on the spot that day. I honestly did not even know this particular type of job existed.”

Being “a mom” is one of mankind’s highest callings, a holy title and worthy undertaking, the Home Instead staff member insisted. Being “a mom” involved advanced caregiving skills, experience with medications, safety assurance, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands and transportation, as well as patience, compassion and empathy. The thing is, all of those attributes line up with a Home Instead Care Pro job description.

The 3-hour, 15-minute trip to Oklahoma City was a first to the Sooner State for Home Instead^® Care Professional of the Month Josephine S., who drove the client and his wife during a one-day, 210-mile excursion to a casino. For Josephine’s client, an Oklahoma native, the sentimental trip to Oklahoma was his last. He was battling Parkinson’s disease.

“The timing was right. With respect to Parkinson’s, things got worse for him after that. He and his wife used to go to Oklahoma a lot when he was healthy. He had a deep and emotional connection to the casino because it was owned by Native Americans, and he was a Native American. On the day of the trip, we left early, and the weather was pleasant. It was a wonderful, memorable day full of fun and great meals,” said Josephine, who began assisting the client about two weeks after she joined Home Instead^® of Collin County more than four years ago.

Care Professional of the Month Charlotte thought for a moment about how to describe her stellar 46-year career in nursing, health care and professional senior care. A humble person, Charlotte said, “For me, it’s all about weathering the storm. That’s my theme.”

Anyone who works in nursing, health care and professional senior care certainly knows about the incalculable number of challenges, big and small, that he or she undertakes. It’s part of the career journey that few others are aware of. Charlotte already had encountered caregiving difficulties – and fulfillment – when she was barely a teenager.

Music and medical challenges are two of the unbreakable companionship threads that bond Home Instead^® Care Professional of the Month John Morris and his client, Mr. M.

John recently was wheeling Mr. M. around his skilled nursing home and stopped so they could enjoy several 1970s songs on John’s cell phone. That’s when John’s memories of his serious stroke in 2019 started to flow. John recalled: “I was helpless after my stroke, thinking maybe I’d never work again. After three months of speech therapy, I had this hope God would give me the ability to see through the eyes of seniors, at least to some degree. That helped in my joy and compassion for seniors.”

ChaTamberlyn, who has served as a family caregiver for her great-grandmother, always has wanted to help others, and she has had dreams of being a doctor. 

Before finding Home Instead, ChaTamberlyn had worked at an assisted-living facility in Garland. “I was looking for a job that was flexible in all areas of life, a job that would provide an opportunity to not only be flexible in the workplace but also in my personal life. During my year of working with the assisted living facility, I learned the ins and outs of properly taking care of not only my loved ones but also taking care of someone else’s loved ones,”

When 7-year-old Nicole Avis’s grandmother lapsed into a diabetic coma, young Nicole quickly called 911 and then gave her an insulin injection. Nicole knew what to do because she had been enlisted as a family caregiver for her grandmother and properly instructed. As a result of Nicole’s fast action, the two spent many more years together and made great memories. 

Because of her love for her grandmother and other seniors that was evident many years ago, friends and family were not surprised when Nicole was honored as a Care Professional of the Month.