Client’s Home Instead Compliments Set Tara on Course to Be a CAREGiver
The late client was on the money when he told Tara Rickard how much he thought of Home Instead® of Martinsburg. That is to say, the elderly man gave Home Instead high grades. Tara was doing a great job, of course, but there was only one Tara. The client’s appraisal of Home Instead spurred Tara to think about shifting gears in her career.
As a private-duty caregiver, Tara had taken care of the elderly man during evening hours. In the morning, Home Instead CAREGivers had assisted him. The combined senior-care efforts had allowed the man to remain in his home until about three years ago, when his frail body finally gave out. That’s when Tara finally decided it was time for a change.
Recalling her conversations with the man, Tara said: “The client had nothing but nice things to say about the Home Instead CAREGivers. Once he passed away, I decided to try to work for Home Instead. My late client was spot-on. Home Instead is a wonderful company with wonderful CAREGivers and clients,” Tara said.
In 2018, Tara joined the owner Keith Clay’s award-winning Home Instead franchise that serves West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. Focusing on Home Instead’s training, processes and procedures of successful caregiving helped Tara achieve CAREGiver of the Month status that was announced in August 2021 by Allyson Starling, who works in the franchise’s human relations department and also handles recruitment and retention. Nina Eastham is the Martinsburg office’s supervisor, and Allyson and Kristi Piotter are managers for the Martinsburg and Winchester Home Instead franchises.
Tara said: “I have been a personal caregiver aide for the past 10 years, seven years in private care and three years with Home Instead. What I love most is helping my clients with their ADLs, activities of daily living. Just to see the clients smile and have a happy time during my time with them makes my whole day.”
In addition to her strong companionship skills that cultivate clients’ smiles, Tara provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. Tara and other CAREGivers offer personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, dementia support, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility assistance. By expertly doing so, CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
For Tara and her fellow CAREGivers, touching lives impacts their souls, whether they are providing physical help or if they are offering emotional support in a companionship role.
Tara loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the West Virginia franchise, a member of a highly successful network founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska. 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 12 other countries.
Tara 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 Tara 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 (304) 263-4472 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
