Lydia Carries Compassion From Late Husband’s Care To CAREGiver Assignments
Lydia Aldape already had experienced the most difficult caregiving responsibility anyone could encounter before she joined Home Instead® of Midland-Odessa. For nearly two years, Lydia remained by the side of her husband of 34 years as his full-time family caregiver while he bravely fought non-small cell lung carcinoma, a highly lethal cancer.
“It was one of the hardest thing I have ever had to do. God, family and friends got me through it.
Joe is now resting. and he is my angel,” said Lydia, who has been a CAREGiver for four months for the award-winning Home Instead franchise owned by Lorena Garza Shensky and William Shensky.
“I have always loved people, and I love my job. I enjoy taking care of those in need. I have always been a helper of the elderly. I love to listen to their stories. To lift their spirits, I give them foot rubs or just a simple hug. It gives my heart satisfaction to take care of them,” said Lydia, who was honored as her Home Instead franchise’s May CAREGiver of the Month.
“My Home Instead CAREGiver story is this: I’ve taken care of three clients since I started. Not every day is a good one for seniors. They do have their bad days. I just do my best to make it easier for them.”
Assistant Administrator and Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator Imelda Hawkins said: “From the moment Lydia walked in the front door for her job interview, I sensed she was someone special. She had a confident can-do and will-do attitude that made me have no questions about wanting her on our team.”
Imelda added: “After being with Home Instead for two weeks, and considering her years of experience during which she provided care for family members, Lydia went straight to work with a client who needed special care because of his advanced stage of dementia. Lydia has never looked back since taking the assignment. She views it as an opportunity to help someone. We are very proud to have Lydia on our team.”
In addition to her strong companionship skills, Lydia provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. Lydia 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.
To build on their knowledge and experience, Lydia and other CAREGivers are offered the opportunity to build on 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.
Focusing on Home Instead’s training, processes and procedures of successful caregiving have helped Lydia achieve CAREGiver of the Month status, Imelda pointed out. For Lydia, touching lives impacts her soul, whether she’s providing physical help or if she is offering emotional support in a companionship role, Imelda added.
Lydia loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the West Texas 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.
Lydia 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 Lydia lives the Home Instead principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.” Lydia also embraces Home Instead’s core values of “Honor God in all we do; Treat each other with dignity and respect; Encourage growth in ourselves and others; Build value in our service to others.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (432) 689-4663 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
