Family Caregiving Set Carissa’s Career Course
Carissa’s family caregiving experiences began in the ruggedly beautiful area near her tiny hometown of Tallmansville, West Virginia, a 4½-hour drive southwest of North Ridgeville, Ohio. An aunt and uncle, brother and sister of Carissa’s father, could not live on their own.
“When I was a kid, we would go to my grandmother’s house. I’d help my uncle and aunt get their plates of food and their drinks and help them to the table. I’d wheel my aunt’s wheelchair up to the table so she could eat,” Carissa recalled.
“I was always helping my dad with my grandmother, aunt and uncle by taking them to appointments or by just being there to sit with them or watch TV with them to keep them company. I loved every minute of it!”
Carissa wistfully added: “The older I got, the older they got – but that’s just life. Fast-forward from those days to now, and they have all passed away, including my dad. I took care of Dad until he passed away in November 2016. I would do it all again.”
Carissa’s empathetic and compassion heart had shined long before she joined Home Instead® of Lorain County, Ohio, in North Ridgeville, where Karin Kollar owns the award-winning franchise that is located about a half-hour drive southwest of Cleveland near U.S. Highway 20.
“When I lived in West Virginia, I was a Certified Nursing Assistant and worked in a nursing home. I also did some in-home care work,” said Carissa, who moved to North Ridgeville four years ago and joined Home Instead in January 2018. “I’ve been with Home Instead now for three wonderful years. I had been here in Ohio for a year and needed to find employment that would work with my daughter’s school schedule.
“I went online at Indeed.com, searched for caregiver jobs and Home Instead popped up. I went to its website, read a little bit about Home Instead and what it did, and I decided to give it a try. I filled out the application and submitted it to Home Instead. I was then brought in for an interview, and here we are three years later.”
The fulfilling benefits of being a CAREGiver, Carissa pointed out, stretch much further than keeping the client safe and as content as possible. “I like that I can give the family members a peace of mind because they know their senior is being taken care of, and they don't have to worry. I also like being able to make my clients smile and helping them stay at home longer, where they are happier,” Carissa said.
As far as key Home Instead CAREGiver moments and great memories go, Carissa recalled: “I had one client who didn’t really want to eat. I tried a little bit of everything, but I had no luck. One day, I asked him what he was hungry for, and he asked if I could make fried potatoes. I said, ‘I’m a West Virginia girl. We learn how to fry potatoes while still in the crib.’ He just busted out laughing, and anytime I was there, he always wanted me to make him fried potatoes and scrambled eggs no matter if it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I'll never forget that.”
Carissa proved you might be able to take the girl out of West Virginia, but you’ll never be able to take “the West Virginia” out of the girl. The 2004 graduate of Buckhannon-Upshur High School (a winding, scenic eight-mile drive northwest of Tallmansville) loves spending her off-hours with family, hunting, fishing, watching moves and having fun.
At work, Carissa embraces her role as a member of the CAREGiver team for the Karin’s North Ridgeville franchise, a vital Ohio part of a highly successful network founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Paul and Lori Hogan. The Home Instead network is the world’s leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually throughout the U.S. and 13 other countries.
Carissa is among more than 90,000 CAREGivers worldwide, and she has helped add to those numbers because of her strong belief in Home Instead’s purpose. It isn’t hard to see Carissa lives the Home Instead principles of “Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.”
All Home Instead CAREGivers are screened, trained, bonded and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (440) 353-3080 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
