Client Totally Trusts Nichelle: ‘Will You Look After My Dog?’
A Home Instead® client took one look at Care Professional of the Month Nichelle Cephas’ warm, compassionate smile, sized her up and automatically trusted Nichelle. Not long after Nichelle walked into a client’s home for the first time, the client said: “You have a beautiful face and heart. You are sweet – I can feel it. If something happens to me, would you take Princess (her beloved little dog)? … Please promise me.”
Not wanting to spoil her first poignant moment with the new client, Nichelle recalled: “I told her I’d make sure nothing bad would happen to Princess. That was an assurance for her, a load off her shoulders. I think that, ultimately, her family would take Princess, but I do like Princess, and she likes me.” When Nichelle started with Home Instead of Philadelphia in June 2022, she was receiving occasional shifts with the client. The situation developed to the point where Nichelle is helping the client and Princess twice a week. Nichelle added: “In general, the clients know I am very friendly. I’ll do what I can for them.”
That wasn’t the only “Hallmark moment” Nichelle has experienced with a Home Instead client. One day a week, Nichelle has a long shift with 96-year-old dementia client who lives alone, loves Nichelle’s assistance and has never forgotten why she’s coming to his home. In other words, Nichelle has never been forced to “talk her way through the front door” like some senior-care professionals must do with dementia clients. But sometimes Nichelle is questioned before her 9 p.m. departures.
Nichelle explained: “He asks, ‘Are you coming back tomorrow?’ Since I am with him only one day a week, I tell him I’m coming back, but ‘just not tomorrow.’ For 96, he does well. He uses a walker. Among the things I provide, I take care of his meals and his medication reminders. He is Italian and likes spaghetti, but he is fine with anything I prepare for him. He loves cookies and has them at home – I don’t bring them in; his daughter probably does. I try to limit him to two cookies on the day I am there, if possible. I put away two additional cookies, and sometimes he remembers to ask for them. He has a good sense of humor.”
Nichelle’s heart broke for another client, whose heart had been broken by a perceived snub. “She lives alone and has been in her neighborhood a long, long time. She was upset when one of the children who grew up next door to her got married but did not invite her to the wedding. It might have been an oversight or maybe the family thought it would be too hard for her to get to the wedding,” Nichelle said.
Putting Nichelle on the spot, the client asked Nichelle what she would do if Nichelle were in her situation. Nichelle responded: “I told her I would still give him and his bride a wedding card but that she didn’t have to put any gift in it, depending on how she felt. I also said she might just let it go. She’s got a good heart. This situation brings up the point that seniors still want to be
included in social settings. I am a sounding board for the clients. It does bother me that seniors can be so marginalized.”
There are some sad days for Care Pros. A male client died two days short of his 86th birthday. “He wanted me to bring him new sneakers for his birthday. I had known him for 10 years; I was his CNA for four years. It is like losing family. He thought of himself as a granddaddy to my kids. He asked about them all the time. He was ill and having breathing problems. I went to his funeral. He was a good man, and I wanted to pay my respects. He outlived virtually everyone he knew and had only a niece left,” Nichelle said.
Nichelle has seen almost every caregiving situation imaginable and also served as a family caregiver to her late brother. “I’ve been doing this kind of job all of my life. I went to school to become a nurse, and I’ve been a CNA for more than 35 years. In the 1990s, I worked at nursing homes. I also worked in hospital settings. In one hospital, I worked on the surgical floor,” said Nichelle, who found Home Instead on Indeed.com.
“This sort of job is not for everyone. You must have a compassionate heart. Yes, I receive a salary, but I do this job because I want to do it from my heart. I work with a variety of clients, and they are nice people to whom I get attached. They also get attached to us Care Pros.”
Nichelle praised Home Instead. She said: “They are very custom-service oriented, a company that cares about its clients and employees and wants the best for us. Home Instead is very respectful to its employees and is very organized. The culture of communication is great. I’ve worked for a lot of people. I’ve always worked hard wherever I went but never had been honored by an employer. It felt great to be selected as Care Pro of the Month.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (215) 925-4610 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
