Client’s Spouse Noted Jeanna Quickly Won His Wife’s Trust
Home Instead® CAREGiver of the Month Jeanna Brouillard is a wanted person.
Last year, the husband of an 85-year-old client called the Clawson franchise’s office with a request: “Can you assign Jeanna to care for my wife at her memory-care unit for as many hours a week as possible? Jeanna really has connected with my wife, and I’d like to keep her on my wife’s 24/7 care schedule.”
The answer was, “Yes, of course.”
The story began this way: A month after Jeanna joined Home Instead in July 2021, she was sent to the client. Jeanna made an immediate and lasting impression – the client remembers Jeanna when she arrives each day. “My client has been in the memory-care unit for about two years, and they had Home Instead helping her before I came to the company. The client’s husband is in an independent-care apartment at the same care community and visits every day,” Jeanna said.
Not long after Jeanna came aboard, there was “a bump in the road.” The client contracted COVID-19, was hospitalized and placed on hospice. Her husband correctly predicted his wife would recover and return to their care community, and he made sure Jeanna was available for his wife’s return. That reunion took place in October, and the client has continued to flourish.
The client has a hard time tolerating the noise in the unit during the daytime hours, and Jeanna is a great comfort to her. “She is an evening person. We go on walks in the late afternoon or early evening. She uses a wheelchair, and she will walk a bit with a gait belt. After her afternoon nap, her personality comes out. Her husband and I take her out for lunch or ice cream. When she goes out, she’s always happy to come back. She goes to bed at 9,” said Jeanna, who provides some personal care, including bathing, in addition to the companionship.
“Conversations are often one-sided. She doesn’t watch TV news, so she’s passed the stage of talking about current events. If I ask questions, she replies with short answers. One time, she has complimented my bracelet. She just seems comfortable when I’m with her. Her husband is happy with the way her wife feels.”
Jeanna’s Home Instead position is her first professional senior-care job, one that she pursued after seeing a television commercial. Jeanna has had plenty of family caregiving experience. She helped her stepdad, who had cancer and passed away 15 years ago. “He lived in Florida, and I was going back and forth a lot,” Jeanna recalled. “I helped my grandfather when I was in college a long time ago. My husband and I also were in charge of the care of an aunt, which was a challenging situation because of her strong personality, but we did the best we could.”
Adding perspective to what she does, Jeanna pointed out: “A big part of being a caregiver, whether it’s family or professional caregiving, is being compassionate. Every one of them is so individually different, but empathy and trust are two of the common threads. Professionally, the Home Instead training did help. It also was beneficial to break the ice and just get that first assignment under way. My first client was 100 years old, and I had an unfounded fear that just touching her might be detrimental because she seemed so thin and fragile. Also, we CAREGivers always are strangers in the first meeting, and they now have a stranger in their home. Some look at you with a little bit of fear. But you pull it together, win them over and make their lives easier and happier.”
In general, Jeanna said, things are going great with Home Instead, an award-winning franchise, owned by Bert and Stephanie Copple. “I am very happy. Communication with the staff is great. Everyone is very professional, respectful and receptive to questions. They also are flexible. I had a sick child and couldn’t go to a shift, and they sent out a replacement right away. My needs matter – that is true for all CAREGivers,” Jeanna said.
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.
