By any measure, it was a sight to behold for shoppers and shelf stockers.
CAREGiver Juanita hurried through the grocery store aisles as she raced to try to keep up with her 92-year-old Home Instead® client, who was moving in overdrive despite wearing high heels.
Recalling one of her most memorable Home Instead caregiving days, Juanita explained: “As we shopped, she looked at her watch and told me, ‘Let’s go. You’re going to be late to clock out.’ She grabbed the shopping cart and started running to the cashier. She did not want to slow down. I couldn’t believe it.”
Juanita added: “That was the first day of 10 years we spent together.”
That shopping scene was near the end of their first day. Their first encounter hours earlier was somewhat of a precursor of the unusual things to come. “I remember the day I met this lady, who was my first Home Instead client. When she opened her door, I never would have expected a beautiful lady all dressed up with makeup and her high heels,” Juanita said.
That was in September 2009, when Juanita joined the award-winning Home Instead franchise owned by Mechelle and David Minter. The Home Instead office serves central Houston, including Bellaire, The Heights, Medical Center, River Oaks and West University. “I found out about Home Instead through a TV commercial,” Juanita said.
Juanita actually picked up the notion of working in professional senior care while serving as a family caregiver for her father when he became ill. “Every time I took my father to his doctor appointments, I saw how many people were in need of help. That’s why when my father passed away, I decided to become a senior-care specialist. I found great joy in helping people who are unable to fully care for themselves. I have so many experiences through the years as a CAREGiver,” Juanita said.
In July 2021, Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Kae Taylor announced Juanita had been selected as the Home Instead franchise’s CAREGiver of the Quarter for April, May and June. Kae said: “Juanita is an awesome CAREGiver. She is extremely reliable, loyal and caring. Juanita is impeccable when training other CAREGivers, and she is absolutely lovable.”
While serving in her dual role, Juanita focuses on Home Instead’s processes and procedures of successful caregiving to help other CAREGivers.
In addition to their companionship skills, Home Instead CAREGivers provide safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. CAREGivers offer personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, dementia support, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility assistance. By expertly doing so, Home Instead’s CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
To build on their knowledge and experience, CAREGivers are offered the opportunity to increase their dementia-care skills by taking 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.
Juanita is among more than 90,000 CAREGivers worldwide, and she has helped add to those numbers because of her strong belief in Home Instead’s purpose. It isn’t hard to see Juanita lives the Home Instead® principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
“Through the years,” Juanita said, “I have met wonderful people and have learned so much from them. I found it extremely rewarding to take care of the people who have given so much to us. I am proud to be part of the Home Instead organization and to continue meeting new faces and be part of their lives.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (713) 403-2273 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
