On Wednesday afternoons, three-time Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Meg Chauvin drives her client to a popular establishment where he and a group of his friends gather. Her client, an outgoing 87-year-old man who treasures his camaraderie with the men, usually is ready to go home after about an hour of conversation.
Meg explained: “The establishment has been around for a lot of years, and he has his own chair with a small plaque that has his name on it. The guys’ ages range from the 60s to the 80s. Yes, there are a lot of us chaperones for these guys. I don’t usually sit with them. I let them have their space so they can talk about whatever they want.”
Meg added: “After about an hour, I will approach him and ask how he’s doing and he usually is ready to go because he gets tired. Sometimes he wants to stay a little longer. I have gotten to know several of the other men. One is blind. Another of my client’s friends asked who I worked for, so maybe somewhere down the line, he’ll want Home Instead to help him.”
Meg, who helps her client on weekdays, learned how much she and her client had in common after she began assisting him more than a year ago. “There are so many similarities. He and I have East Coast origins, and he has the same first name as my dad. I was born in Connecticut, and he lived there while he was earning his master’s degree at Yale. We both lived in Delaware for a time. He’s originally from Pennsylvania, where he was a gymnast at Penn State. When I was young, I took gymnastics and dance,” Meg said.
Meg is the client’s only Home Instead Care Pro during the week, and two other Care Pros help him during the weekend. During the week, the client also receives visits from a CNA and a hospice nurse. “We’ve tried to limit the Care Pros only for adjustment reasons. Most clients don’t want to see a lot of different caregivers and then have to continually educate them on their needs. My client knows that I know how to take care of him,” Meg said.
The client uses a wheelchair in his home in a secure building, and he also has an electric scooter. “He has dementia, but at times he has a lot of clarity. Sometimes he can’t recall what had happened or was said five minutes earlier, but he remembers distant events and the details. That is common with dementia,” Meg said.
“He had been very active. He loves to go outside and feel the sun, but he does get tired. I try to get him to go out for a car ride. My client likes to watch sports, and those are his favorite shows, along with the news. His favorite college football teams are Penn State, his alma mater, and Oregon, his daughter’s alma mater. He also likes to look at his smart phone. My client always looks forward to tomorrow.”
Meg joined Home Instead of Boulder, Broomfield and northwest Adams Counties in 2007 after moving from Delaware to Erie, Colorado, for her husband’s job. Within months after starting, Meg was honored as Care Pro of the Month. But while enduring a recurrence of breast cancer, the death of her mother-in-law and then the death of her sister, Meg was forced to take medical leave. She returned to Home Instead in 2012. Since then, she has been honored in May 2018 and September 2024 as Care Pro of the Month.
Meg saw her parents model family caregiving for the elderly, and she also helped her grandparents. After moving to Colorado, Meg volunteered with a Meals on Wheels program and saw a Home Instead pamphlet. “In addition, a meal recipient was a Home Instead client and talked about the company. Later, some clients remembered my meal deliveries,” Meg said.
Meg previously was an office manager and worked in retail while also raising a family with her husband. “I love this work – I’ve had many clients for years. I like the flexibility, and I take time off to travel to Connecticut to visit my 88-year-old Mom, who is going strong and has been raising a grandson since my sister died,” Meg said. “When I visit my mom, my husband and I bring our 10-year-old granddaughter to visit her great-grandmother and my other relatives. My granddaughter has loved the beach ever since she ever was born, but she lives in Colorado. We have been taking my granddaughter with us during the past three years during a summer month.”
Home Instead Human Resources Director Brenda Munro said: “Meg has worked for us continually for the past 12 years. She goes above and beyond for her sweet client and has been instrumental in his care. That also has been true for her other clients, and a number of touching stories have been generated from her compassionate, thoughtful care.”
More than six years ago, one client thought of a project for Meg, but he didn’t declare a deadline. For Meg, though, there was an unspoken sense of urgency because the client, in his 60s, had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. To carry out the client’s project, Meg quickly learned some new skills: digitizing print photos, editing them and creating a slide show. There were thousands of meaningful photos of the well-traveled client and his family.
“I hadn’t done anything like that,” Meg recalled, “but the client was sharp and patient, teaching me how to do everything because he couldn’t use his hands. We sat at his computer for hours because he wanted to get the photos ready for his kids and grandkids. We got the photos done before he died, so he got to see his project.”
Sadly, before the client passed away, his wife died from several chronic conditions that surprisingly worsened faster than her husband’s decline. “The client was more worried about his wife than himself. As time went on, I helped her get up, wash her hair and shower. Care eventually went to 24-hour care for him after his wife passed. My daughter was a Care Pro at the time, working the overnight hours while I had the days,” Meg said.
While enduring the sorrow of losing two clients in a year’s time, Meg and her daughter developed a special bond with the clients and their family. “He was ready to die when his wife passed. The family had a memorial service for both of them, and my daughter and I were invited because they viewed us as family.”
Summing up her senior-care experiences, Meg added: “It feels natural to help seniors. It just seems like common sense, decency and empathy. I will continue as long as I can physically do the job. Home Instead is flexible, and my choice of hours are perfect for me.”
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