Care Professional of the Month Kari Stouffer, with two master’s degrees, is an acclaimed teacher and academic researcher who has dived into her own personal study of dementia while compassionately assisting seniors on behalf of Home Instead® of Collin County for the past 16 months. The longtime academian finds her recent entry into professional senior care both fulfilling and enlightening.
“Since I am interested in human memory, I also am interested in how the loss of memory influences aging. I have been particularly interested in helping people with dementia during my job at Home Instead. I have been interested in human memory since I was in elementary school because my father had a high interest in short-term memory improvement,” said Kari, who lost her job as a research assistant in a reading comprehension lab at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020.
Kari worked in the UTD reading comprehension lab for almost nine years, helping a professor conduct research on the effects of short-term memory capacity on reading comprehension of academic topics for college undergraduate students. Before Kari moved to Texas in 2011, she had taught English courses at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona.
Kari said, “During my first two years of teaching, I taught public speaking on a graduate teaching assistantship, while working on a master’s degree. And then over the course of 20 years of teaching at Pima College, I taught public discourse, college reading and English composition before moving to Texas and working as research assistant at UTD.”
Kari was conferred a Master of Arts in Education, Language, Reading and Culture from the University of Arizona (1996 to 2004) and a Master of Arts in Rhetorical Studies from Northern Illinois University (1989 to 1991). As far as the Home Instead office staff is concerned, Kari has earned a de facto master’s degree in professional caregiving. For many years, the Home Instead network has studied dementia intensely to build on its Care Pros’ knowledge and experience.
In fact, Kari and other Plano Care Pros are offered 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 evidence-based dementia-care practice recommendations in these topic areas: Alzheimer’s and dementia, person-centered care, assessment and care planning, activities of daily living, and behaviors and communication.
While shining the Care Pro spotlight on Kari, Home Instead Care Pro Advocate Amanda Ross said, “Kari is a wonderful Care Pro who is amazing with her clients, very attentive and engaging. We know when we send her to an assignment, the client is going to call later and say, ‘I want Kari all the time.’ ”
Amanda added: “Kari recently received a ‘Share the Love’ call-out from the family member of a new client, who said in her note, ‘Kari was AMAZING! Could have not asked for a better caregiver for the first day with Grandma. All good so far.’ ”
Director of Client Services Jay Hill said: “Kari continues to amaze our clients with her care. Thank you, Kari. You are a true professional.”
When Amanda, Jay, franchise owner Todd Felker and other staff members unanimously agreed to select Kari as the franchise Care Pro of the Month, they pointed out that among the considerations for achieving Care Pro of the Month status, an employee has shown he or she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Empathy and compassion are taken into account for the award, as well as skill and wisdom for dealing with challenging situations. Kari embodies Home Instead’s guiding principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.” She is someone who is exceptional at her work with any client, Amanda emphasized.
Kari enjoys the feeling of satisfaction that comes from helping clients with various problems and situations related to aging. “I have perhaps learned more about the devastating effects of memory loss as a Care Pro than I have learned from any research article or textbook. I enjoy learning new caregiving skills and applying those skills toward helping clients. I enjoy working with a variety of clients and always welcome meeting new clients,” Kari said.
“I stand amazed at how the office staff of the Home Instead office in Plano operates with so much efficiency in hiring, training and scheduling Care Pros for so many clients with so many diverse problems.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (972) 744-9898 or apply online at https://www.homeinstead.com/location/413/home-care-jobs/ . For further information about Home Instead, visit our website at https://www.homeinstead.com/location/413/
