Epifania Moreno thought of herself as somewhat of a novice in the professional caregiving field when she joined Home Instead® of Victoria, Texas, on March 31, 2023, as a Care Professional. The truth is, Epifania had entered the caregiving field at age 13 when her brother was born three months prematurely. He is autistic and has epilepsy.
“I have helped with my brother’s care since his birth. He needed a heart monitor after he was born, and feeding him was a challenge. In effect, I raised him from the time he was 5 years old. My sister also helps. He is 28 years old now,” explained Epifania, who also helped her late father until he passed away five years ago. “I helped with his medical appointments and other care situations. He had started forgetting things, so his memory had become an issue.”
Referring to Home Instead, Epifania pointed out: “I am fairly new to this profession because I had started with a different agency in December 2022 before finding Home Instead on Indeed.com. I was with the other agency for three months. The reasons I was looking for another job were traveling and mileage challenges. There was a lot of out-of-town driving. I have two sons, so there are transportation issues. Now, with Home Instead, one client lives four minutes from me, and another client lives 12 minutes away. I also have a third client.”
Epifania likes Home Instead’s scheduling flexibility, which has led to smoothly handling her regular clients, including an 86-year-old male client with whom she has assisted on weekdays since she started with Home Instead nine months ago. He lives alone and is wheelchair-bound.
“When I started with him,” Epifania said, “he was a bit standoffish. It took a little time to develop the conversations. He was very apologetic about some aspects of his care and felt as if he was a burden. At the start, I could see he was curious about how I was handling his personal care, and that made him a bit uneasy.”
Epifania added: “I reassured him I had no problems, and his whole mood changed. I told him I would do whatever it takes to help him. I could feel his ease. Now he knows I am comfortable with all care situations. I told him, ‘The care is just between us.’ ”
The client is a retired farmer who also had livestock and loves to tell stories that include his hunting adventures. “He has the deer mounts on the wall. He’s very sharp and has a good memory. He likes to make jokes,” Epifania said.
She is his only Care Pro and handles nearly every meal, even preparing the suppertime portions hours before she leaves. “I also get his meals ready for the weekends. He is mostly confined to his living room, where his bed is. We set up his living space to make it easier for him. All in all, I try to keep him out of the kitchen just to make his life easier,” Epifania said.
There is no weekend Care Pro, but Epifania sometimes drops in just to see if everything is OK. The client does have family support. “I’ve met all three of his sons, who live out of town. One son comes when he can. It’s almost every weekend or every other weekend. He takes care of his meds. Part of helping a client means you are helping his family members, too. No matter where I drive, I usually pass right by his house. On Easter, I got him something to eat,” Epifania said.
Another client loves to play cards and board games. The 85-year-old man’s favorites are Monopoly and dominoes. “He is sharp. We play cards for hours. His favorite saying, concerning our card games, is ‘Where can you have more fun than this?’ I told him I think he could be right,” Epifania said.
Epifania was a perfect choice for Care Pro of the Month at the award-winning Home Instead franchise owned by Pietro Jordao and Dillon Rice. When Recruiting and Retention Coordinator Maegan Coldewey announced Epifania had been honored, Maegan said Epifania displays Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
Epifania said: “I love this job. I wish I would have gone into this line of work earlier in life.”
At our award-winning Home Instead franchise, owned by Pietro Jordao and Dillon Rice, Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (361) 433-0330 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
