Alan’s Huge Heart Has Ample Space for Kids and Seniors
It’s easy to pick up on Alan Dozier’s mantra: “I take care of kids and seniors.” During the school year, Alan is a highly regarded dean of student discipline at a Detroit-area high school, where he has served for the past seven years. During the weekends, several weeknights and when school is not in session, Alan is an award-winning Care Professional for Home Instead® of Clawson.
During a 21-year career in education, Alan has been lauded for his conflict resolution, behavioral intervention and restorative practices. His leadership skills promote a safe, friendly and learning environment for teachers, students and parents. “I help students understand their conduct and what they need to do to improve. Along with conflict resolution, I try to be a mentor,” Alan said.
A year ago, Alan noticed a Home Instead television commercial and thought back to the two years when he provided 24/7 care for his late mother before she passed away in 2017 at age 97. “I like to keep busy. I was getting bored at home. And I miss my mother. I wanted to give back to the seniors in our society,” said Alan, when he explained his decision to apply at Home Instead, where he was honored as the franchise’s March 2024 Care Pro of the Month.
Alan explained during his Home Instead job interview that while he had not worked in professional senior care, he had plenty of family caregiving experiences. The youngest of his parents’ seven children, he took on the sole responsibility of taking care of his mother. To do so, Alan took a leave of absence from a school job and returned to Michigan from Connecticut.
“I did not want my mother to live in a nursing home. I was happy I could keep her at home. I told my mother, ‘I am not throwing you away.’ My dad, a church minister, has been gone for 25 years. He died at age 93 after battling prostate cancer for 18 years,” Alan said. “It was a tremendous blessing for me, and I felt good about taking care of her. I feel it was an experience the Lord wanted for me. I honored my father and my mother. I have no regrets. I feel I needed to make sacrifices to take care of my folks,” Alan recalled.
Always alone with his mother, Alan said: “When I had to shop, I’d put Mom in a wheelchair and take her with me. She’d ask for certain foods, and we’d go home and pretend to have our own cooking shows. In her twilight days, she’d sometimes be upset and her behavior became agitated, and then I’d get her calmed down. It was a humbling experience, and I learned how to be sensitive to her needs. My heart broke when she said she was too tired to go on. She was in my arms when she passed away. I told her, ‘I’ll see you in heaven.’ I also remember my final days with my dad. I was shaving him one day, and the next morning he was gone.”
While going above and beyond the call of duty for his Home Instead clients, Alan noted that he set his own high standards for care as a result of his family caregiving experiences. “I take care of my clients as if they were my parents. I wish to make the seniors happy the entire time I am there. I ask them to recall memories and tell me their stories. I love them. They are tremendous people. I make sure they eat well, are clean and have homes that are clean and safe.”
Alan takes on a cheerleader role when needed. “I want the clients to feel they are important to society. I try to persuade them to live for today. They want to be around someone who cares that they are alive and wants to interact with them. I keep things with my clients positive and upbeat. I want them to be laughing, reminiscing about their good days,” he said.
Alan has worked with about five clients off and on, and three or four of them had some sort of World War II experience. “I do whatever interests them. One gave me Wall Street Journal articles he had cut out. We talk sometimes about my school experiences and behavior patterns I see. They are all interesting people, and all of them are doing well cognitively. While there have been no severe memory problems, I have had the franchise’s dementia training,” said Alan, who took 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 recommendations for person-centered care, assessment and care planning, activities of daily living, and behaviors and communication.
Alan’s impact is obvious. His clients ask when he is coming back and tell him they look forward to seeing him again. He said, “I always say I’m not going anywhere else. I lost a client who moved to a care community. He really missed his late wife and wanted to be with her. I told him that to honor her memory, he should carry on as best he could.”
Alan, an elder in his church, helps his clients practice their faith if he is asked to do so. He never oversteps the boundary of initiating a faith-based discussion with a client. “I am not a Catholic, but I went to a Mass with a client. I want to keep their spiritual energy going if I can. For me, this is a ministry; what I do is my calling,” said Alan, whose favorite Scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6 (“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”)
Alan pointed out Home Instead has been a blessing. “I try to represent Home Instead well. Anne Monaghan, our general manager, and the whole staff have been kind, trained me well and found good client matches for me. Whatever they needed in terms of shifts, I am open to try within the limits of my school job. I have not missed a day all year with Home Instead. I’ll keep going with Home Instead and see what happens. I am a simple guy who doesn’t need much to be happy. This has been a good school year. I am up at 4:30 every day. Along with helping students to be the best they can be, I look forward to caring for clients.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (248) 203-2273 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
