Meet Our Team

In 1996, Jeanne McCusker and her family had a life-altering experience. Six months after moving to the Charlottesville area, Jeanne’s Mom was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease at the age of 51.

The next four years the family rallied around caring for her Mom at home and making sure she had the quality of life that we all would want for our loved ones. Initially the process started with being support for her Mom as her physical capabilities started to change.

First, her Mom lost her ability to speak which was ironic since her Mom was a speech pathologist and audiologist. The challenge of the disease continued and slowly she started losing other abilities; typing on her communication device, feeding herself through her feeding tube and eventually she started falling.

“After a few scary trips to the hospital we knew things had to change. The worst was when we found my mom laying on the driveway with her head split open-- it was dark, 40 degrees and my Mom couldn’t get up. She had to get staples in the cut on her head. The next day we made a change.”

As Jeanne often tells the families she works with, it is best to try to avoid crisis whenever possible, but if it does happen it is time to swiftly make a change. She hired a caregiver immediately to help with her Mom.

The next year or so her family had this wonderful person in the house during the day helping the family and making sure her Mom was safe. As the disease came to the end stages they had to split the shifts: her Dad took the overnight shift, the private caregiver helped during the day, her sister in the evenings, and Jeanne did the weekends since she traveled for work all week. But without their steady and competent caregiver, the family alone would be overwhelmed to provide the excellent care that her mother needed and deserved.

This whole life-changing journey inspired Jeanne as she considered the invaluable service that caregivers contribute to our society. It became her personal mission to provide our community with the most qualified and reliable caregivers available. In 2003, Jeanne opened the doors of Home Instead Senior Care of Charlottesville which has served individuals and families for over 15 years.

Carolyn joined Home Instead Senior Care as a Staff Coordinator in, 2010. In 2013 she was promoted to Operations Manager. As Operations Manager she is responsible for client billing and CAREGiver payroll. Carolyn is a lifelong resident of Central Virginia, and enjoys landscape painting, classic movies, reading, science, and learning new things. A self-proclaimed “education junkie” and nontraditional college student, Carolyn received a Master of Business Administration in May 2010.

A native to central Virginia her entire life, Colleen values her community and its neighbors with great pride. Her nursing career has primarily been in the float pool, at bedside within the hospital setting and her skills range from pediatrics to geriatrics, and intermediate care. She has also spent some time as a travel nurse, expanding into the rehab and post-acute setting. Colleen refers to herself as an avid advocate for her patients and her peers. In her free time, you will find her at the baseball or softball field with her son and daughter or outside in any capacity enjoying glamping life with her high school sweetheart, their two children and silver lab, Zoie. 

Sherrica joined Home Instead in October of 2005 as a CAREGiver for the elderly. In 2009 she was promoted to our Recruiting and Retention Team. Sherrica left in 2019 to help her husband with his own business and has since returned in 2021. Now, as Client Care Coordinator, Sherrica’s upbeat personality and beautiful smile make her the perfect person to greet all our companion clients and their families. With over 15 years experience with Home Instead, she ensures that our companion clients are receiving the best care possible.  Sherrica enjoys spending time with her family and friends, being outdoors, cooking and watching the Discovery Channel.

Rosetta is originally from New York City and surrounding areas where she resided. For years Rosetta and her husband loved visiting the Charlottesville area and would visit annually. In 2022, they decided to move to Virginia to start a new chapter in their lives. Rosetta has over 15 years of experience in customer service. She focuses on providing the perfect match for our clients with our Care Pros. Rosetta’s hobbies are hosting, cooking, and baking. She enjoys spending time with her husband and kitty Ohana.

Nicole (“Ziggy”) has over 15 years of HR and business managerial experience, specifically in logistics, retail, and production. Her passion is finding talented care professionals to join our team. She is an avid reader, loves to play Minecraft and word games. She is mom to one daughter, two cats, and one dog.

Paul started with the Home Instead in February of 2016 as a CAREGiver. He finds that working with people with special needs is so rewarding and such a joy. Now, as the CAREGiver Ambassador, he gets the best of both worlds. He gets to see all of the wonderful clients, meet, and get to know the CAREGivers, who are the back bone of the company. In Paul's spare time, he likes to listen to classical music, sit in front of a roaring fire surrounded by lots of dogs, and garden.