Care Professional of the Month

Eight months after Petey H. joined Home Instead^® in Louisville, Colorado, she was honored as the franchise’s Care Professional of the Month, the office’s highest employee honor. Seven months earlier, Petey, a humble perfectionist, wasn’t sure she was cut out for professional senior care. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Things just can’t go 100 percent the way a Care Pro would want, and perfection is far from the goal.

“About a month into the job, Petey tried to resign because she said she wasn’t sure she was cut out to be in professional senior care. Our franchise owner, Mike Lammers, quickly talked her out of it, and she’s continued to do a fabulous job since,” Home Instead Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Brenda Munro said.

Care Professional of the Month Anne Wenzel’s journey from family caregiver to volunteer caregiver to private-duty caregiver and finally to a professional included an amazing number of twists and turns.

As a family caregiver, Anne took care of her former mother-in-law before the start of COVID-19 in 2020. Anne’s former mother-in-law, 95, was living with her daughter and son-in-law, who both worked full time, so Anne’s family caregiving assistance was a godsend. Five years ago, Anne’s former mother-in-law lost her husband of 70 years, and the elderly woman  never recovered from that loss.

Then, several years ago, Anne became a volunteer peer counselor with the Longmont Senior Center in a program that matches volunteers with seniors who need emotional support, which is done by simply listening. “Oftentimes a client was housebound and lonely,” Anne said, “so a visit from one of us volunteer peer counselors was the highlight of his or her week.”

When named Care Pro of the Month, Karen was a bit astounded. “Why me? I’ve been with Home Instead all these years. Are they worried I am going to leave?” she said with a laugh. “Actually, Doug and I have talked about retirement. We are at that age, but Doug enjoys his job as an enterprise software solution sales leader, so he has decided to continue working at least another year. I will probably retire when Doug retires. Then, no more of these stories … Woo-hoo!”

Recalling her decision to apply for the Home Instead job in 2007 brought back thoughts of Karen’s late grandparents. Karen said: “One grandfather had Alzheimer’s and ended up in a nursing home where he died. But my grandmother was mentally sharp and lived to 101. Putting your compassion into action is one thing, but the job’s demands also are another thing. In that newspaper story 15 years ago, I read about Home Instead’s job flexibility. That was a good thing for my family. The bottom line is that I always have had the desire to work with people in need, and I thought, ‘Why not?’ ” Karen, a native of Kearney, Nebraska, was a medical technology graduate at Kearney State College.

Izzy earned her CNA in 2015 and immediately embarked on a home-health career. “It brings me joy to help others. I’ve always loved working in home health,” she said. “I love my line of work so much that I recently decided to further my education and start the process of becoming an RN next year while still working with Home Instead. I love being able to help clients stay in their own comfort zones and keeping them safe and happy.” 

Izzy was a family caregiver before she entered the profession. She is the oldest of six and always helped her siblings as they were growing up. Izzy also helped with her great-grandmother’s care when it was possible. Her great-grandmother resided in an assisted living community before she passed away. Because of the challenge of raising four children, Izzy has sometimes been a stay-at-home mother.

Jackie, who has worked twice in professional senior care, shifted from child care to senior care for the final time when she joined Home Instead. Her previous stint in senior care ended when she lost two longtime clients while working for another agency. During the same sorrow-filled four-month period, death also claimed three friends and Jackie’s mother. “The reality is, I needed a break from senior care. I needed to regroup and get myself together,” Jackie said.

Jackie praised Home Instead’s staff: “What I really like about Home Instead is that if I have a question or concern, I can call them. They will give advice or step in and take care of the problem. They listen. I will continue to work for them until I retire. I really enjoy the work.”

Jovani Hernandez, the Care Professional of the Month for September at Home Instead^® of Louisville, Colorado, is a humble person who doesn’t blow his own horn.

While honoring Jovani and announcing his selection as Care Pro of the Month, Brenda said: “Jovani is fairly new to us and came with zero experience in senior care but has rocked this job. Jovani works for us full time, mostly with one of our ‘essential care’ clients whose level of care is considered advanced. Focusing on Home Instead’s training, processes and procedures of successful caregiving helped Jovani achieve Care Pro of the Month status. He has done an amazing job. Jovani works mostly overnight shifts. He is flexible, takes extra last-minute fill-in shifts when we need him to do that and is an all-around hard-working guy.”

We were looking for an innovative Care Professional to honor as its award-winning employee for August. Fatou Doumbia, with an unlimited number of ideas accumulated during 25-plus years of professional caregiving and medical care, was an easy choice.

“The Home Instead corporate office gave our franchise network the parameters for choosing a Care Pro for its monthly #StandingOvation feature: ‘He or she is someone who has bright ideas, is solution-focused and a forward thinker.’ That is Fatou,” Brenda said.

While Care Pro of the Month, Linda's Home Instead job is her first professional senior-care position, she’s been in the business of taking care of people or helping them in one way or another since she worked as a daycare specialist in 1999, when Linda was 17. Daycare was a natural fit for Linda during her early adulthood years, but unpaid senior care – a huge dose of it as a family caregiver – came into Linda’s life before she joined Home Instead.

“I took care of my mother for the last 10 years of her life, before she passed away in January 2021. We lived together, so that made it easier to give her care. When I say I took care of her, I mean I was the one who took her to the doctors and medical appointments. Since I have a medical background, I was able to understand what was going on with her and could explain it to her in a way in which she could understand it,” Linda explained.

“I cooked for her and my dad, as well as for my little family. My mom was still able to take care of herself and my dad. I was there when it came to medical situations. After she passed, I helped my dad with all of his medical situations.” 

Care Professional of the Month, Becky Weisberg, has effectively communicated passion and empathy to those whom she has been committed to making life better for more than 36 years. 

Becky’s legacy of helping others began in her own home years ago. “My parents were in their late 30s and early 40s when they started having children. I was 18 when my father had emphysema and spent most of his time in bed. My job was to make sure he had oxygen and check in with him during the day to make sure he had what he needed while my mother was at work. I remember my father asking me to read to him when he was ready to begin his new journey. He told me he was tired of being sick, and was ready to go.”

For her nearly 43 years as a doctor, Care Professional of the Month Marilea Miller took care of society’s youngest as a board-certified pediatrician and neonatologist. She worked with infants and children at Washington D.C.-area hospitals and Johns Hopkins University Medicine in Frederick, Maryland. During the last four years of her medical practice, Marilea served as a Department of Defense contractor who worked in a U.S. military hospital in Germany as the Medical Director of the neonatal intensive care unit.

In a 180-degree demographic turn to help people, Marilea now successfully deals with the challenges that seniors face as a Care Professional.

“At the beginning of the first COVID-19 quarantine mandate, I lost my job at the retirement community where I had been employed for 15 years,” Shayla explained. 

Shayla preferred to see the stunning job loss as an opportunity and not a disaster.

“It was a blessing in disguise because it meant I had finally gotten out of my comfort zone and could begin taking on new challenges. I wanted to help the elderly in a one-on-one capacity, and one day I just happened to come across Home Instead^®,” said Shayla

Home Instead^® CAREGiver of the Month Brianna Merrill has a uniquely wide spectrum of interests and strong proficiencies to go with them. Long before Brianna worked as a scientist in a cellular engineering laboratory after earning a college degree in molecular and cellular biology, she was a family caregiver, a really good one, too. She is a kind soul who had helped her sister, a grandmother and others.

Describing her caregiving approach, Brianna said: “I have a more broad attitude and interaction with seniors to meet them where they are and help them with changing needs. I try to keep things lighthearted because that takes away the uncomfortable feeling. One client loves puns. The puns are pretty great, and they come out of nowhere. But after a while, you smile and groan if the day is full of puns,” Brianna said with a laugh.

CAREGiver of the Month Janeth Hernandez-Salinas and her husband are dreaming big. They want to run their own business and grow it as big as possible, and Janeth credits Home Instead^® of Boulder, Broomfield and northwest Adams Counties for helping them move closer to that dream with flexible scheduling for Janeth’s job.

“I looked for night jobs on Indeed.com, came across Home Instead and realized the job was perfect for me. I never thought I could get paid to do something I enjoy. Home Instead has made it possible for me to be with my family and also keep working on our dream while I get to take care of great people with so many backgrounds,” said Janeth