Connecting With Clients Provides Liz with Fulfillment
There’s no doubt CAREGiver Elizabeth “Liz” Shaffer and an 86-year-old Home Instead® client have bonded. The client always asks to look at videos and pictures of Liz’s daughter. “I love it when my client says, ‘Tell your young daughter that “grandma” says hi.’ That is one of the reasons I love what I’m doing for my clients and their families,” Liz said.
“I’m meeting great people. I’m happy to see my clients light up when I come. It’s just a wonderful feeling to bring joy to the clients’ lives. I’ve been with the clients I have right now since the early summer,” said Liz, who has been working with Home Instead of Shelby Township since February 2020. Owner Kerry Pareja’s award-winning franchise honored Liz as its CAREGiver of the Month for January 2021.
After working for a big-box store for seven years, Liz decided she was ready to do something different and more meaningful. She had listed her resume on a job website, and she had gone to a job fair for a different home-care company when Home Instead Recruitment and Retention Coordinator Heidi Gundy called. Heidi told Liz Home Instead could interview her that afternoon.
Explaining two of the reasons she accepted a Home Instead job offer, Liz said, “The office is close to my home, and most of my clients are, too. As far as working with seniors goes, I’ve helped my grandparents over the years, and I also helped elderly people shop at the big-box store where I previously had worked. That got me to thinking that many seniors need good help, and I knew I could help them with more than just shopping and errands.”
In addition to shopping and errands, Liz provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, transportation and companionship. Liz and other CAREGivers offer personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, dementia support, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility. By expertly doing so, CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
Liz has been with the clients she has now since the early summer or July. She assists two clients twice a week and also helps two other clients once a week. “I’ll be starting with a new couple next week. Unfortunately, I don’t get to take anyone out because of COVID-19,” Liz said.
“I am planning to start training for either a nursing program or a health-care administration program. I’m undecided on what's best for me, but I see a long career at Home Instead.” She said focusing on Home Instead’s training, processes and procedures of successful caregiving helped her achieve CAREGiver of the Month status.
For Liz, touching lives impacts her soul, whether she’s providing physical help such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders or personal care or if she is offering emotional support in a companionship role.
Liz loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the Kerry Pareja’s Shelby Township franchise, a member of a highly successful network founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Paul and Lori Hogan. The Home Instead network is the world’s leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually throughout the U.S. and 13 other countries.
Liz is among more than 90,000 CAREGivers, and she has helped add to those numbers because of her strong belief in Home Instead’s purpose. It isn’t hard to see Liz lives the Home Instead® principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (586) 992-0100 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
