Tara Sparks would love to hug her grandparents and love them to pieces at every opportunity – just as every other granddaughter does with her senior loved ones. Sadly, Tara cannot. But she has the next-best thing.
“I lost my grandparents when I was very young, so I wasn’t able to help with their care, but I am here to help someone else’s grandparents! It’s the most fulfilling, heartwarming job ever,” said Tara Sparks, a Care Professional of the Month for the award-winning Home Instead® franchise owned by Pietro Jordao and Dillon Rice.
Tara joined Home Instead of Victoria, Texas, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the lethal virus rolled into Victoria in 2020, the constant waves of illness affected different people in different ways, from mild to severe symptoms. The coronavirus also injured Victoria’s economy.
“I found Home Instead when COVID-19 hit Victoria really badly. As a result, my restaurant job disappeared. I discovered Home Instead online and applied. I couldn’t wait for any unemployment benefits to kick in. I needed to work and actively searched,” Tara recalled. “My work background had been mostly in the areas of hospitality and customer service. Since making the switch to professional senior care, I have been employed for two years with Home Instead.”
Tara provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. She offers personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility. By expertly doing so, Tara and her fellow Care Pros 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, Tara and other Care Pros receive the opportunity to increase 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 dementia-care practice recommendations in these areas: Alzheimer’s and dementia, person-centered care, assessment and care planning, activities of daily living, and behaviors and communication.
When Home Instead Recruiting and Retention Coordinator Maegan Coldewey announced Tara had been honored as Care Pro of the Month, Maegan said Tara displays Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.” Tara said: “I love my office staff and bosses. They make my job a lot easier when it comes to working around a schedule that fits with the care of my children.”
Companionship and the clients’ stories are highlights of any shift for Tara, who loves to listen to historical aspects of the clients’ lives. “My favorite experiences are when my client and I can joke around and have a good time. They love to talk about the old times, and I enjoy listening to how Texas was in the 1980s and before that,” Tara said.
Tara loves being a part of the Care Pro team for the Victoria franchise, a member of a network comprised of 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.
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (361) 433-0330 or apply online.
