Mother-Daughter Duo Boosted CAREGiver Ranks
Welcome to Home Instead® of Ocala’s CAREGiver Spotlight. Each month, one of our amazing CAREGivers will be randomly selected to share their story with their peers — YOU. We know you will enjoy reading and learning more about Isabelle and Glenda.
Mother and daughter CAREGivers Isabelle and Glenda formed a unique dynamic duo who have provided two Home Instead® franchises in Florida and Indiana with skillful, compassionate caregiving on a seasonal basis. At separate periods of time, they worked for the office in Ocala, Florida, during the winter several years ago.
From October through April, they were CAREGiver stalwarts in Ocala but never simultaneously. From May through September, they worked for Home Instead of Mishawaka, Indiana. The franchise offices are 1,045 miles apart; Mishawaka is a suburb of South Bend in northernmost Indiana.
Because of her husband’s failing health, Isabelle stopped coming to Florida in recent years, while Glenda remained in Indiana for one winter because of the COVID-19 threat and to help with the care of her father, who died in May 2020 at age 92. Isabelle, 88, has not returned to Florida because she now needs family caregiving assistance. She has Parkinson’s disease.
Former Ocala franchise co-owner Mary Samuelson does not hide her admiration for the two. “I’m excited to tell everyone about two special people for the CAREGiver Spotlight. Glenda is a snowbird who has worked with us since 2017 and for the Mishawaka office during our hot months. We met Isabelle around 2010 or 2011, and we were so happy to see her arrive at the start of winter each year. Conversely, we were sad when she returned each spring to Indiana. Isabelle also cared for her late husband in addition to working overnight CAREGiver shifts. They blessed us with special memories.”
Glenda said: “I started working for the two Home Instead franchises about five years ago, but my mother did it for years before that. My parents had been coming to Florida since 1985, and Mom was a CAREGiver for seven or eight years, stopping when she was 83 because Dad needed constant help. He fell in February 2020, suffered a broken leg and died three months later. It was quite an ordeal, and I quit as a CAREGiver to help Mom with him. It was rough for months. He had lived a good, long life and passed away peacefully.”
Glenda added: “Mom now has stayed in Indiana. Since I have no family in Florida, I cannot bring Mom with me. She was 83 when she stopped working in Ocala. Since Mom has Parkinson’s, she eventually would have had to quit being a CAREGiver. For a good while, she did double duty while working mostly nights and taking care of Dad during the day.”
Glenda and her mother actually had followed Glenda’s older sister into professional caregiving. “My sister is a very giving person. She was a private-duty caregiver as well as a social worker,” Glenda said. “When she needed help with a private-duty client, Mom was among the family members who pitched in. We all did private-duty work at first. I didn’t think I could work in senior care, but I found it very rewarding.”
Glenda pointed out: “I worked in a factory for 33 years, but the company moved the factory to Mexico. I was a private-duty caregiver for 10 years before I started with Home Instead. My older sister now works for Home Instead in Indiana. I also have a younger sister who is a construction engineer. She takes care of Mom and has help from my older sister. When I was home in Indiana, I’d take Mom a couple of days a week, and I also worked a couple of days a week for Home Instead. Five years ago, I joined the Mishawaka office, but I had worked first for Ocala. I do not plan to live permanently in Florida. I have been in Florida in August, and it was miserable for me. Also, my family is back in Indiana, and I’d miss them if I moved permanently to Florida.”
Glenda works overnights for the Ocala office that serves Marion County, includes Silver Springs, Belleview and Summerfield. Mary and Jim Samuelson, who owned the award-winning franchise for nearly 15½ years, sold the office to Carolyn Quintanilla in the spring of 2021. Carolyn has owned the Home Instead franchise in neighboring Lecanto, Florida, since 2007.
Glenda notes that she has had a number of interesting Ocala clients. “I’ve had repeat clients, and some clients remember me. One was a daughter and her 99-year-old dad. She is an interesting person who was a retired editor at a major newspaper. She had a lot of stories, and her father was an interesting man. They lived in her grandmother’s refurbished home. She was developing Alzheimer’s and I heard she was moving in with a daughter,” Glenda said.
During the 2020-2021 winter months, one of Glenda’s clients was an 88-year-old widow who lives in her own home, has COPD and is on supplemental oxygen. “She is very mobile on a walker, and her mind is very good. She is a good, sweet lady with whom I don’t get to talk a whole lot because she usually sleeps until I leave,” Glenda said.
Glenda said she probably will return to Indiana in the middle of May and plans to keep up her seasonal routine. “I feel pretty good. I probably will keep doing this for a while. Jim and Mary are wonderful, fantastic people, and I wish them the best in their retirement. Carolyn has been in this business for quite a while, and I know she’ll do well,” Glenda said.
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (352) 622-6447 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
