Brittany Paused Professional Caregiving
To Provide Intensive Care for Her Daughter
Eleven years ago, Brittany Marsh was eager to work for Home Instead® of Mount Airy. But God had another plan for her, a difficult path she would not have chosen for herself. It was a journey whose purpose may never totally be revealed during Brittany’s lifetime, but it has helped shape her perspective as a caregiver. “After I found Home Instead online in 2012, I worked with Home Instead for a few months until I went into labor with my child. I had to quit because my baby daughter required special needs, and I had to stay at home with her,” Brittany recalled.
So, as a family caregiver, Brittany took care of her daughter until she was 5½ years old, when she passed away. Her daughter had special needs with a tracheostomy, ventilator and a gastrostomy tube. Brittany’s daughter required 24-hour care, and she needed nurses in her home to help her. “As a result, I know what it is like when you have a family member who needs care and you have to have someone come into your home and help care for your loved one,” Brittany explained. “As a family caregiver, I also helped take care of my great-grandmother.”
After her daughter’s passing in 2018, Brittany took a private-duty caregiving job with a husband and wife for whom she served for four years until they passed away. “After they passed,” Brittany said, “I wanted to continue to work in home care, but I wanted to work for a company. I then learned through social media that Home Instead was hiring so I applied. I prayed that if it was the Lord’s will, I would get a call. Two days after applying, I got a call requesting an interview. During my interview, I was told they would love to have me work for them.”
After Brittany had worked for Home Instead for the past seven months, her compassion, empathy and skill were rewarded. Staff Coordinator Sharon Bledsoe announced Brittany had been honored as the franchise’s Care Professional of the Month for September. “Brittany is a great all-around Care Pro. She is very knowledgeable about all of the types of clients we serve. Brittany is a sweet, caring young lady,” Sharon said, pointing out that Brittany “displays Home Instead’s guiding principles of ‘Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.’ ”
Brittany’s entry into professional caregiving began when she received her CNA in high school in 2008. Brittany worked for a home health care company based in Yadkinville, North Carolina, for two years before she took a nursing-home job in King, North Carolina. Brittany worked there for three years until she went to work for Home Instead in 2012. “I had worked in private-duty caregiving off and on, but I made my way back to work for Home Instead in 2023 after my daughter passed away and after private-duty caregiving for the couple,” Brittany said.
“What I like most about my job as a Home Instead Care Pro would be my clients. I love to hear their stories from their childhood to the present time. They always make me feel so welcomed in their homes, and they feel just like my own family,” Brittany said.
She will never forget one of her Home Instead clients who touched her heart greatly. “The client’s husband had passed away not long before I had started, and we had breakfast together. My client’s words, which I will never forget were, ‘Thank you, I am so glad I had someone to eat breakfast with me this morning. I have not done this since my husband passed.’ We never know what something so small as eating breakfast with someone means to a person,” Brittany said.
Brittany described another heart-rending moment with a client. “It is another of my favorite stories. A client took my hand one day and asked me if he could pray with me. I said, ‘Yes,’ and he stood and prayed with me. God had led him to pray with me even though he did not have a clue about what I was dealing with that day. Similarly, I did not know what he may have needed himself. He just felt led to pray with me. One thing is for sure – you can never go wrong with prayer,” Brittany said.
