Twice-honored Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Angelica Lopez has found a great way to begin the day with her client. “Spanish music is the way we start our mornings, and we also have a breakfast donut,” Angelica said. “I have a wonderful client. She is always making me laugh and keeping me on my toes.”
Angelica has had a special connection with each of her clients since May 2018, when she joined the award-winning Home Instead franchise in Victoria, Texas, owned by Pietro Jordao and Dillon Rice. With plenty of family and private-duty caregiving experience on her résumé, Angelica searched online and found Home Instead. During an interview more than four years ago, the office staff listened intently as Angelica explained how she dived into caregiving for the first time 11 years earlier with a sense of urgency but without a lot of confidence.
“My mother was my ‘first client,’ ” Angelica recalled. “Mom had cancer, and I took care of her. At first, I was not sure caregiving could be a job for me, but I soon figured out that it was. My heart is in it. I did everything for Mom, when I took care of her at her house from 2007 to 2012, when she passed away. She needed 24/7 care.”
At Home Instead, Angelica was an immediate success and was honored as Care Pro of the Month just six months after starting her Home Instead job. At that time, in September 2018, Angelica said: “I never worked for someone who appreciates me like Home Instead does and treats me so well.” She pointed out the positives of working for Home Instead, which are the same today as they were four years ago:
- “The communication is good.”
- “If a problem comes up, the office takes care of the issue right away.”
- “The staff is flexible – if I need a day off, they try to do their best to accommodate me.”
- “Client matches are good, and I like who they pick for me.”
- “The office tries its best to get me the hours I need. I appreciate that.”
When Recruiting and Retention Coordinator Maegan Coldewey announced Angelica had been honored as the franchise’s October 2022 Care Pro of the Month, Maegan said: “We felt great about honoring Angelica again. She always displays Home Instead’s guiding principles of ‘Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.’ ”
Angelica has accumulated many precious memories while serving Home Instead clients. She wasn’t a pro football fan before she met one of her clients more than four years ago. Of course, she is now. “My client, who was 95 years old at the time, was a football player at some level, so he was a big NFL fan. On Sundays, we watched the games, and he loved the Dallas Cowboys. One day, he said the Cowboys played ‘like first-graders against Seattle.’ He also stayed involved with life and current events because he was a television news junkie,” Angelica recalled.
The client often praised Angelica’s meal-preparation skills and bragged about them to a close friend. “That made me feel good. I wish I had gotten that many compliments about my cooking from my family,” Angelica said with a laugh. “His favorite dish was rice with brown gravy, baked chicken and corn. I made that at least once a week.”
Summing up her Home Instead experiences, Angelica added: “I love the fact that I can help someone stay in their home and feel comfortable. I feel as if I’m really making a difference in someone else’s life. I also have the best bosses, Dillon and Pietro, and I love my job.”
Pietro and Dillon have been the Home Instead franchise’s co-owners since Aug. 1, 2020. Maegan joined Home Instead at her position in March 2019. Pietro, Dillon, Maegan and Angelica are proud members of a franchise network directed by Home Instead, Inc. and its parent company, Honor. With the world’s largest home-care network and the most advanced care platform, Honor and Home Instead are revolutionizing care for older adults, their families and Care Pros. Combined, the network has more than 100,000 Care Pros across 13 countries, meeting the growing needs of millions of older adults and their families worldwide.
