2011 Mary Steibel CAREGiver of the Year Award

Home Instead Senior Care, Franchise 443, of State College, Pennsylvania is honored to nominate Tammy Heinrich for this year’s Mary Steibel CAREGIVER of the Year award.

Tammy has been an integral part of our office for more than seven years.  She has provided more than fourteen thousand hours of remarkable service to forty seven different Home Instead clients.  She is not, however, being honored for her years with us or her hours with clients.  We are nominating her to represent all of our CAREGivers – for her exceptionally skilled and heartfelt client care.

From the office perspective, Tammy is one of those rare individuals who will always step-up and help out.  She is consistently fifteen minutes early to work — dependable, focused and compassionate – regardless of the situation or the individual care needed.  

She is an unusually skilled CAREGiver.  Before joining us in 2004, Tammy (a Certified Nursing Assistant), spent ten years at the Odd Fellows Nursing Home in Lockport, New York.  All totaled, Tammy has provided care to the elderly for over twenty one years.  Her broad experience and knowledge inspires confidence and trust of her clients.  When asked what she likes about working with us, she says “This isn’t just a job for me, it’s in my heart  … I just love elderly people … I always have.”  In fact, one of her clients wrote the following:

    “Tammy always goes above and beyond in the care she gives … I don’t think this is just a job to her.”

The daughter of a client (who passed away this last spring) says that “mom took to Tammy right away – I knew I could leave the house and never have to worry — mom would be safe and warm with Tammy”.  It was quite a partnership and they spent six years together.

Tammy’s service to the elderly is a reminder of sanity, character and sacrifice.  She is among the many unsung heroines of our society.

On behalf of all her client, their families, her fellow CAREGivers, and all of us here in the office, we unanimously nominate Tammy Heinrich as our Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiver of the Year.

Home for the Holidays Webinar-FREE to Family Caregivers

 

Free Home for the Holidays Web Conference

Will Help Family Caregivers Tune Into Trouble

 

The holidays are a good time for family caregivers returning home to tune into the signs that an older adult may need extra help to remain safe at home.

 To learn more about those signs, register for the free Home for the Holidays web conference, moderated by a representative from the Home Instead Senior Care^® network, hosted by the American Society on Aging (ASA), and co-sponsored by the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC).

 The hour-long web conference will be available in the U.S. and Canada, and offered on two dates and times: Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, or Monday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. To register, go to the Family Caregiver Education link on CaregiverStress.com.

 The web conference will be moderated by Director of Strategic Alliances Mary Alexander of Home Instead, Inc., the franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network. Alexander is a family caregiver and a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA).

 “It’s easy for busy family caregivers to overlook the subtle signs that a senior loved one needs assistance,” Alexander said. “But the holidays, when many return to their childhood homes with aging parents, can highlight those red flags,” she noted.

 “Signs of potential trouble can be evident in a senior’s home – such as spoiled food in the refrigerator and piles of unpaid bills – or personal indicators such as episodes of confusion or dirty and unkempt clothing,” she added.

 The web conference will feature information about countering senior resistance to assistance as well as resources that can help family caregivers and senior care professionals.     

 

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE

Founded in 1994 in Omaha by Lori and Paul Hogan, the Home Instead Senior Care^® network is the world’s largest provider of non-medical in-home care services for seniors, with more than 900 independently owned and operated franchises providing in excess of 45 million hours of care throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Finland, Austria, Italy and Puerto Rico. Local Home Instead Senior Care offices employ more than 65,000 CAREGivers^SM worldwide who provide basic support services – assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs), personal care, medication reminders, meal preparation, light housekeeping, errands, incidental transportation and shopping – which enable seniors to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. At Home Instead Senior Care, it’s relationship before task, while continuing to provide superior quality service that enhances the lives of seniors everywhere. Visit us at www.homeinstead.com/CentralPA

What is Be a Santa to a Senior?

In 2006, Be a Santa to a Senior volunteers visited a local nursing facility and distributed gifts to a number of residents, including one 87-year-old woman whom we’ll call Mary. She was pleased to receive her gift and thanked us profusely, but it wasn’t until we returned to give Mary another gift in 2007 that we recognized the true value of Be a Santa to a Senior.

When we entered Mary’s room for our second visit, we noticed that the only card on her bulletin board was the Be a Santa to a Senior card from the previous year. As we spoke with her caregivers we found out that our Christmas card and gift were the only items she had received throughout the year. Mary re-read the card regularly to help keep that memory alive.

Each year Home Instead Senior Care^® offices throughout North America spread holiday cheer to lonely or financially-challenged seniors through the Be a Santa to a Senior program. The program has attracted upwards of 60,000 volunteers over the past six years distributing gifts to deserving seniors.  Since introducing the Be a Santa to a Senior program, Home Instead Senior Care has helped provide 1.2 million gifts to more than 700,000 seniors. Watch this video to learn more!

We are now accepting nominations. If you know of a senior who could benefit from receiving a gift for the holidays this year, please contact Ken Pendleton, by calling 866-238-8820 to learn more. We will be receiving until the deadline of October 31st. At that time Home Instead Senior Care will be seeking sponsors for local seniors.