Shirley Spreads Her Compassion Among Two Jobs, Family Caregiving
Shirley Ruffin, a sharing person to the “nth-degree,” has a tough time confining her huge, compassionate heart. She has a full-time job as a family advocate, and she is a family caregiver who constantly touches base with her mother and helps her in any way possible. Even more, Shirley has worked part time for Home Instead® of Clawson for the past five years. She’s done so well that she was honored as the award-winning franchise’s CAREGiver of the Month for March. None of her friends or family was surprised by Home Instead’s proclamation.
“I’m a social worker by trade. I have always worked with people from all ages. I currently work for a company under the Head Start Program. I’m a family advocate who works with low-income parents and their children. My job is to help parents with goals-setting and provide resources for them to be self-sufficient. I treat everyone with respect all the time,” Shirley said. Her managers – and the people she has helped – noted that Shirley is a reliable, trustworthy, compassionate and loving individual.
“Shirley is a very loving daughter who checks up on her mother every day.” Does that sound familiar? That is how friends and family view Shirley in terms of her family caregiving role, a responsibility that Shirley has embraced of her own accord.
“I care for my mother, who lives alone. I check up on her every day. I sometimes do her shopping. My mother is very independent, and she sometimes just needs companionship and reminders,” Shirley said.
Five years ago, Shirley thought she could do even more for society, specifically as someone who could help the burgeoning elderly population remain in their homes. Enter the Home Instead franchise in southeast Oakland County owned by Bert and Stephanie Copple.
“I searched on the internet, and I just picked a company. I read some good remarks about Home Instead. I took the chance that Home Instead would hire me. I did not have any professional certification for nursing,” Shirley recalled. Of course, CAREGivers don’t need any special certification, such as a CNA diploma, to work for Home Instead. The franchise staff is known for figuring out which potential CAREGivers have big hearts, common sense and an open mind for senior-care training.
“Home Instead has been a wonderful support for me. They have CAREGiver-paid training sessions. They allow me to work around my other job. The Home Instead staff has always been supportive to my needs. I like the higher pay now. The clients are also nice to work with,” Shirley said.
In addition to her strong companionship skills, Shirley provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. Shirley offers personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility. By expertly doing so, Shirley and her fellow CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
To build on their dementia-care skills knowledge and experience, Shirley and other CAREGivers are required to take part in the Home Instead network’s one-of-a-kind training protocol. Home Instead’s Person-Centered Care Training for Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias is recognized by the Alzheimer’s Association® for incorporating the evidence-based dementia-care practice recommendations in these topic areas: Alzheimer’s and dementia, person-centered care, assessment and care planning, activities of daily living, and behaviors and communication.
Focusing on Home Instead’s training, processes and procedures of successful caregiving helped Shirley achieve the CAREGiver of the Month award. Furthermore, among the considerations for achieving CAREGiver of the Month status, an employee has shown he or she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Empathy and compassion are taken into account for the award, as well as skill and wisdom for dealing with challenging situations. Shirley embodies Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.” She is someone who is exceptional at her work with any client, the staff said.
Part of Shirley’s job fulfillment emanates from the caregiving memories she has accumulated. One of Shirley’s clients was a widower in his 90s and had been married for more than 50 years. His wife died about two years ago.
“I had great conversations with the gentleman every weekend for about two years. He was a history buff who told me stories from the 1950s and 1960s about different cities and events that had happened,” Shirley said. “He always stated he loved his wife and wanted to be with her. He was very friendly and outgoing, and he complimented my hairstyles. I would change my hair every two weeks, and he always noticed when I came into his room. I was sad when I left for vacation because he died before I came back to work.”
Shirley loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the Clawson franchise, a member of a highly successful network founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska. The Home Instead network is the world’s leading provider of in-home care services for older adults, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 90 million hours of care annually throughout the U.S. and 13 other countries.
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (248) 220-3009 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
