For Nicole, Care Pro Job Stands Out Among Many Experiences
Of the various jobs Nicole Mirabelli has held since she graduated in 2004 from Phillipsburg High School in New Jersey, serving as a Care Professional for Home Instead® of Clearwater, Florida, is the one position that has never felt like a job.
“That is particularly true when I’m with the same client for several months or years. It feels as if I am going to a friend’s house to spend time with him or her and help,” said Nicole, who joined owner Julie Castle’s award-winning franchise five years ago. “I love to get to know my clients on a deep level and hear their stories. Very often, they have led extremely fascinating lives. Society too easily dismisses seniors as having little to offer, but I believe it is quite the opposite. I have had some spectacularly amazing clients and have learned so much from each one of them.”
Nicole began her Home Health Aide training with Home Instead near the end of September 2019 and started working with clients at the beginning of October. “It’s crazy to think I commenced this position just before a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic,” Nicole recalled. “When I started with Home Instead, I did not have any professional caregiving experience. However, I had always planned on pursuing a medical education and, thusly, became involved with healthcare-related courses and activities.”
Nicole moved to Florida in October 2013, from the eastern Pennsylvania-western New Jersey area. “I came to Florida alone, with no family or friends here,” she explained. “Interested in healthcare, I often saw Home Instead ads on Indeed.com, and I finally decided to apply and see if it was something I could do.”
Pointing out that she began rescuing older-special-needs or hospice dogs – from 10 to 16 at a time, Nicole said: “During the past six years, I have taken in about 30 dogs total. It is ironic I used my job caring for senior humans to subsidize the cost of my senior dogs. It has, in fact, been a very symbiotic relationship.”
Nicole has held quite a few jobs over the years. “After graduating from high school, I enrolled in a cosmetology program at the Whitehall, Pennsylvania, campus of Empire Beauty School where I graduated in June 2005. I passed the state board exams and worked as a hairstylist on weekends and summers to help support myself throughout my undergraduate degree.”
Nicole started at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in fall 2005 and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2010. She finished the National Council of Architecture Registration Board’s three-year Intern Development Program in October 2013 and completed the last of the seven Architect Registration Exams in January 2014. That allowed Nicole to become a Registered Architect. “I have worked as an architect for about 14 years, the latter nine years of which I have specialized in the design of animal shelters throughout the country,” she said.
At the same time while diving into self-studying, Nicole also became a Nationally Certified Pharmacy Technician through the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board in 2013 and became a Florida Registered Pharmacy Technician in 2016. “I worked in the field for a couple of years, including at a pharmacy responsible for filling prescriptions at care communities, such as skilled nursing, rehabilitation and assisted living facilities, throughout Florida. I visited many of those places as a Home Instead Care Pro. It was interesting to see that medications that we had filled were dispensed in those settings. I absolutely love it when worlds collide like that,” she said.
Nicole first got a glimpse of senior care by observing her parents’ compassionate help for their senior loved ones. “When I was a kid, maybe around middle-school age, my parents constructed an addition on our home so my mom’s parents could move in and she could care for them. My grandmother, in particular, required quite a bit of assistance. She had Parkinson’s disease, which took her life years later when I was in college,” Nicole said.
“I’d like to say I helped my mom with this process, but in all honesty, I’m sure I made it worse. Looking back, I was very selfish. I don’t really know how my mom did it all – simultaneously taking care of three children and two elderly parents. It took a major toll on her well-being. Both of my parents have always led by example. My dad retired as the police chief in my hometown. My mom worked as a teacher’s aide in elementary-level, special-needs classrooms. Their integrity, compassion and work ethic are truly unmatched. They inspired me to fight for the underdogs of the world and to strive to do the right thing even if it comes at a personal cost.”
In July 2024, Nicole was honored as a Care Professional of the Month, Director of Care Professional Services JC Crady announced. Among the considerations for achieving Care Pro of the Month status, an employee has shown she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Empathy and compassion are taken into account, as well as skill and wisdom for dealing with challenging situations. Nicole embodies Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
Nicole said: “My life’s goal is to go to medical school and law school. I love medicine because you are there for someone and his or her family in a time of uncertainty and fear. It’s striking when your knowledge, skills and presence are able to see someone through these difficult times. I love the law because it provides the tools for one to become a fierce advocate for those who are unable to advocate for themselves. I am attracted to the fields of animal law, elder law, and health law. My life’s mission is to care for people and animals, utilizing both of those systems.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (727) 799-1400 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
