Wendy Finds Heartwarming Job Fit
Wow – that was quick!
Only four months had elapsed from the day Wendy Hagerty-Lebron joined Home Instead® of Philadelphia in January until the day in April when she was honored as the award-winning franchise’s Care Professional of the Month. Home Instead Service Manager Janelle Muhlanga said: “Wendy has been with us since the beginning of the year and has made quite an impression with our clients.”
It is Wendy’s first professional senior-care job, but she has gathered an immense amount of detailed knowledge and experience as a family caregiver. “There have been various times throughout my life where I have performed caregiving tasks for those around me. My grandmother was diabetic, so I helped her test and track her blood sugar and administer insulin,” Wendy explained.
“I also aided my grandfather with his oxygen when he was suffering with emphysema at the end of his life. More recently, I stayed with my aunt and cousin to help them while they were both rehabbing from hospital stays. I spent weeks with them, cooking their meals, administering medications, assisting them in their mobility and performing daily life tasks, like cleaning their house and shopping for groceries.”
Outside of my family, Wendy also has volunteered at the Ronald Bruce Nippon Association, a social service and welfare organization. Wendy said: “There, I assisted with bingo nights, helping residents with filling in their bingo cards, helping to collect prizes for them and ensuring they were able to move around and access the events easily and safely.”
Using her compassion and empathy has impacted practically every job that Wendy has held. “Throughout my professional career,” Wendy said, “I have had various roles that included caregiving components. I spent many years as an assistant to a reading specialist in an elementary school. I then took a position as the nutritional development manager at the same school. I spent those years maintaining the nutritional needs for hundreds of students every year as well as running various programs in partnership with the teachers for physical and nutritional education. Once that school closed, I then became a preschool teacher working with children from 6 weeks old through 6 years old.”
Most recently, before joining Home Instead, Wendy was working for a health-care auditing company. But she decided to begin looking for other opportunities that could lead to a more fulfilling work-life balance.
“I found a job listing for a Home Instead Care Pro on a job board. The opportunity excited me because I am a very friendly and caring person who enjoys the company of other people. I enjoy learning about peoples’ life experiences and listening to their stories with an open mind and loving heart,” Wendy said. “Home Instead has given me the opportunity to not only care for peoples’ mobility and logistical life needs but also allows me to connect with them on an interpersonal level that had been incredibly rewarding for me over the last four months.”
The Home Instead position has been a good fit for Wendy, and she explained: “I like the clients because each person’s story is unique. I also love that every client requires different things, so there is always something new to do and nothing feels routine or ever gets boring.”
The clients’ stories are snapshots of history, golden nuggets of information and wisdom. “One client likes to talk about his travel adventures from when he was younger,” Wendy said. “He has traveled the world, and his home is full of souvenirs from his travels. He has many things from hand-painted plates from Japan to a blown-glass art piece he bought on a trip to London. Everything in his home comes with a story, and I love hearing every single one of them.”
There’s plenty of humor mixed in, too. “I have another client who has a Ph.D. in engineering. He likes to refer to his Ph.D. as an acronym for “Photos of Howdy Doody.” Each client brings different experiences with him or her when they interact with you. I enjoy learning about different aspects of their experiences and perspectives on historical events.”
Wendy loves being a part of the Care Pro team for the Philadelphia franchise, a member of a network comprised of Home Instead, Inc. and its parent company, Honor. With the world’s largest home-care network and the most advanced care platform, Honor and Home Instead are revolutionizing care for older adults, their families and Care Pros. Combined, the network has more than 100,000 Care Pros across 13 countries, meeting the growing needs of millions of older adults and their families worldwide.
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (215) 925-4610 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
