Cousin Pointed Victoria Toward CAREGiver Job
Perhaps there’s no better way for Victoria Sawyers to honor her late cousin’s memory than to be honored as CAREGiver of the Month at Home Instead® of Mount Airy. Of course, no one sets out a plan for becoming a CAREGiver of the Month. Victoria’s consistent, high quality day-to-day support for her client speaks louder than words, and her skill and compassion have been evident since she joined the award-winning Home Instead franchise in November 2020.
“I had a cousin who sadly passed away while working for Home Instead, and she loved it and thought it would be a good fit for me. I have also always had a passion for helping seniors ever since I grew up having a hand in helping my disabled grandmother,” Victoria said.
Describing her role as a family caregiver, Victoria said: “When I was growing up, my grandmother’s health gradually declined and before she had to go into a nursing home, I would assist my mom in helping care for her.”
Victoria added: “My only professional caregiving experience before joining Home Instead was working in a group home for disabled adults.”
In addition to her strong companionship skills, Victoria provides safety assurance, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation and errands. Victoria and other Mount Airy CAREGivers offer personal assistance with eating, grooming, dressing, bathing, incontinence care, dementia support, cognitive impairment, hospice support and mobility assistance. By expertly doing so, CAREGivers not only assist their clients, but help their families eliminate worry, reduce stress and re-establish personal freedom.
For Victoria and her fellow CAREGivers, touching lives impacts their souls, whether they are providing physical help or if they are offering emotional support in a companionship role for clients at the franchise owned by Van and Ann Lankford.
“So far, I have had only one client. I love feeling as though I make a difference in my client’s life and making sure she knows someone’s always there for her, and having a good relationship with her,” Victoria said.
Victoria and her client share a love for animals, especially cats. That love for felines generated a special story involving Victoria and her client.
“I found a kitten in my yard, kept it and cared for it. When I told my client about the kitten, she said she would love to see her. So, I brought the kitten to my client’s house on one of my days off. I’ll never forget how the client loved playing with the kitten and just seeing the little cat jump around and crawl up in her lap and play with her,” Victoria said.
Victoria loves being a part of the CAREGiver team for the Mount Airy franchise, a member 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 12 other countries.
Victoria 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 Victoria 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 (336) 789-4472 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.