Home Instead Senior Care Locations:
Chicago, Illinois

Gerry Rious, CAREGiver of the Year 2007
Lake Charles, Louisana

"Whenever I enter my clients' homes, I remember to make them happy by going in with a smile. And I always say that you haven't lived a perfect day until you've done something for someone who can never repay you," said Gerry Rious, 2007’s CAREGiver of the Year. "I'm really drawn to this job. I just love it."

Louisiana franchise owner George Cestia is equally pleased that Gerry found her calling through his business. Most of Gerry’s time as a CAREGiver has been with a dementia client who has no family. On September 22, 2005, Hurricane Rita bore down on Louisiana. "Gerry took this client with she and her husband to a family home out of harm's way," George said. "We thought this would turn into a two-day trip, at most. However, two days turned into three weeks, since nobody could return to the city due to the utter devastation.

"You'll find in Gerry a one-of-a-kind person who embodies the core values of a Home Instead CAREGiver," he continued. "I own the business, but Gerry is the business."

In the following stories, you'll meet other Home Instead CAREGivers of the Year and learn more about the power of their love—one of the many qualities that make them outstanding CAREGivers.

Alec Rogers, CAREGiver of the Year 2006
Northbrook, Illinois

Home Instead Senior Care co-founder Lori Hogan called CAREGiver of the Year Alec Rogers a "superstar - one who helps Home Instead Senior Care shine brilliantly by touching clients' lives each and every day."

A plant pathologist and former researcher for DuPont, Alec has lived and traveled all over the world. His favorite place is at home in suburban Chicago - close to his clients. In fact, he even foregoes what was an annual winter trip to Florida with his wife Franny. She now travels south when the cold weather arrives, while Rogers stays behind to tend to his CAREGiving responsibilities.

"I love the work. It keeps me young," he said. "As a Home Instead CAREGiver, I'm serving my clients, their families, and the Lord," Alec said. And he doesn't do it for the money, since he donates his paychecks to charity.

Franchise owners Fran Wilkens and Steve Glassman said, "Alec exhibits the kind of caring and compassion that one wishes were characteristic of all human beings." Staff member Ryan Krueger believed that "if there were not a CAREGiver of the Year award already, it would need to be created for Alec’s devotion to the clients."

One of Alec's primary clients is a retired doctor, with whom he lives when the physician's wife travels. They have formed a very strong bond: "Once, when I was bent over tying 'Doc's' shoelaces, he kissed me on the top of the head. When I asked him why he did this, he said, 'Because you take better care of me than my brother would.”

During his award acceptance speech, Alec spoke eloquently about his time as a CAREGiver: "I have been enriched . . . through the satisfaction I gain by fulfilling the needs of my clients - by giving them full measure and thus helping them retain their independence, dignity, and self-respect. It has been the most rewarding and satisfying stage of my entire 75 years of richly blessed living."

Jeanie Avilez, CAREGiver of the Year 2005
Fresno, California

You don't have to talk long with Jeanie Avilez to realize that she's devoted to seniors. But her resume’s a bit contradictory. There's a 16-year span of no service to the elderly between the time she left a nursing home job and when she joined Home Instead Senior Care.

Back in 1983, Jeanie was working as a nursing home’s Certified Nurse Assistant when she became particularly attached to a 91-year-old woman living in the home. "She was always waiting for me and one morning she wasn't there," Jeanie said. "I went to her room and her bed was stripped. The doctor walked in and said, 'Jeanie, you knew this would happen some day,' I was hysterical."

During the interim, Jeanie had several successful careers, including managing a grocery store and a mobile home park. But there was always a void in her life until she began CAREGiving again. Jeanie, 56, has since lost several clients, including her beloved "doctor," her Home Instead Senior Care client of four years. But she's now turning her grief into a mission. "I know I was put on this earth to do this job. I go to bed feeling like I'm doing something worthwhile."

Jeanie is a model CAREGiver, attending all in-service programs, participating in company activities, and even volunteering with her husband on their only day off at area nursing homes. In addition, her service has inspired poetry writing.

"But it's the unquestionable love Jeanie has for her clients that makes the biggest impression on those she meets," said franchise owner April Cavanagh of Fresno, California. "Her clients, their families and even the franchise staff are the better for it."

Added Fresno franchise office staff coordinator Abby Burnes: "In her five years at Home Instead Senior Care, many clients have entered Jeanie's heart. However, those with dementia touch her most. As a result, Jeanie was one of the first graduates of the Alzheimer's CAREGiver Training Program in her office. She also sought our other educational opportunities, including classes at the UCSF-Fresno Alzheimer's Research Center. Her training served her well with the late doctor, helping her handle his combativeness and enhancing his life. For instance, on one Election Day, Jeanie drove him to the polling place and helped him sign up to vote. Despite Alzheimer's disease, Jeanie made sure that her client could contribute to the election process. The doctor's two daughters were thrilled with successes like these and embraced Jeanie."

"Jeanie saw to it that Dad didn't sit in a chair all day, but went out in his yard where he always loved to see the oranges and the roses, and putter under her watchful eye," wrote one of the daughters of her late client. "Because Jeanie was so conscientious and regular in her work habits, my sister and I knew that Dad's care was never in jeopardy."

Sandra Golden, CAREGiver of the Year 2004
Columbia, South Carolina

CAREGiver of the Year Sandra Golden has been shining ever since she joined the Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiving team in Columbia, South Carolina. Known as the "golden girl" by her clients, Sandra has brought happiness to many older adults who have come under her care.

Several of Sandra's clients had recently moved to the area to be closer to their adult children. They couldn't have asked for a warmer reception.

"I feel I make a big difference in the lives of my clients and they give me many blessings in return,” Sandra said. Multiply that by the thousands of CAREGivers doing the same job, feeling the same way, and it's an awesome thought. CAREGivers are making lives better every day for people like our parents and grandparents. And this does my heart good."

After rearing two daughters who are now in their 20s, Sandra was in the enviable position of "picking and choosing" what to do with the rest of her life. It didn't take long for her to spot the Home Instead Senior Care advertisement. She had helped care for her grandparents, and remembers one woman in particular who was integral in soothing her distraught grandfather after her grandmother died. "I thought, 'I have a heart like that, I know I do!'"

In spite of her eagerness to begin CAREGiving, Sandra admits that both she and her first client, Elise (who moved to the Columbia area from Georgia to live with her daughter) were apprehensive. "But before we knew it, we were fast friends," Sandra said. She remembers one day in particular, when Elise was feeling good and wanted to give something back to her family. Together, she and Sandra made a dinner that was on the table when her daughter's family arrived home. "Elise went on about how good that had made her feel," Sandra said. "It made me feel wonderful, too."

When Elise died, Sandra traveled to Georgia for the funeral. "Sandra's presence there meant more to me and my family than words can express," wrote Elise's daughter. Sandra added that "it gave me a sense of closure to meet the people of the church and to know what a contribution my client had made."

"The caring and open-minded seniors I've come across have made me a better person," she continued. "I pray for my seniors at night and ask God to give me the same attitude that they have should I live to be their age."