Carol Had Confidence to Help Clients After Sharing Family Caregiving for Parents
When Carol Berndt saw several Home Instead® television commercials, a spark was ignited. “I was at the point where I needed a job. When I saw the TV commercials, I thought, ‘I could do that,’ ” said Carol, who joined Home Instead of Birmingham on Sept. 29, 2017. The award-winning franchise is owned by Bert and Stephanie Copple.
Carol had not previously worked in professional senior care, but she and her sister had taken care of their parents, who had been in poor health for years. Both passed away in 2016. Carol’s 79-year-old father had cardiac issues and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing-related problems.
“During Dad’s last year, he quit driving. I am glad he gave up his vehicle keys on his own. We took him to medical appointments, the grocery store and the pharmacy, just wherever he needed to go. Mom was 78, and fought lung cancer for nine years along with A-fib, congestive heart failure and diverticulitis. She had lived with my sister in the winters for the last six years of her life. My sister’s home was more senior-friendly in terms of the layout and stairs. Mom lived up north in the summers, and we mowed the lawns and helped with other things around the house,” Carol explained
She added: “The parental roles were flipped, and my parents hated it because they lost their independence. That is something you have to understand and where you have to step tenderly.”
Carol, who was honored as her Home Instead franchise’s February CAREGiver of the Month, immediately saw the same issues when she began assisting Home Instead clients. The challenges and family dynamics have been different, but Carol lives Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart” while helping each client.
Carol was with a 92-year-old client for almost three years before she passed away in September 2020. Carol often reminded her client in a gentle way to drink more water. If she did not, an infection would ensue. “It was hard for her to change old habits,” Carol recalled.
“One day, when I came in, she had a different skin color and wasn’t feeling well, so I called 911. At the hospital, the doctors diagnosed her condition and were glad I had gotten her there. A year later, she had an operation and came home confused and was soon on hospice.”
After the 24/7 client passed away, her son, who lives in Texas, sent cards to Carol and her other CAREGiver teammates. The son’s resoundingly complimentary words were, “You magnificently navigated my mother’s unique personality and complicated household.” Carol noted, “He’s a good guy who lived so far away. He sometimes called and talked to me. Other times, the son spoke with the office, and we’d tell the office about challenges. It was a team effort, a collaboration, to take care of her. I did things the way she wanted, and this pleased her. She did not like when others tried forcing their ways of doing things on her.”
Over the years, Carol has provided pep talks when needed and ignored harsh words. “In the three months with one client who was 94 and had suffered a stroke years before, I was hearing, ‘I just want to go. I want it to be done.’ She had been very independent prior to the stroke. She was one of eight siblings, and all but one had died. We CAREGivers gave pep talks. ‘We don’t want you to go just yet,’ ” Carol said. After this client did pass, Carol was placed with the client’s daughter and has been with her for three years now, driving her to medical appointments with a little shopping and other errands on the way.
Carol has five regular clients, and her tasks are varied, bed baths, dressing and transferring with a Hoyer lift, housekeeping, leg care, grocery shopping, making meals and companionship. One client has two cats, “I love cats,” Carol said. “One cat liked me right off the bat, and that impressed the client. Her other cat hides a lot, and the client and I get excited when the cat comes out from under the couch and comes to me for pets. One client, who is now gone, had an old Italian Bolognese dog, and I’d walk him twice during a shift. The pets can be just like family to the clients, and you’ve got to realize that. One client lives on a three-acre property and likes to sit in her sunroom and watch birds, deer and the other critters.”
While Carol accommodates each unique client, she loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the Copples’ 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. Carol 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.
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (248) 203-2273 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
