CAREGIVER OF THE MONTH July 2015
From Dan’s desk:
This month’s Caregiver of the Month arrives with an asterisk! She has broken the record for winning this award in a record setting time. Ann Hightower started working for us on May 9th, less than two months ago and she immediately impressed us all by her enormous respect for our clients and her passion for taking care of them.
Caregiver of the Month July 2015
While she is working as many hours as we can give her, she is also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology while juggling the rather hectic demands of being a single mother of 4 children under the age of 10! How does she do it you ask? I haven’t a clue! But I can tell you she is in total control at all times because she is the consummate planner, a prerequisite for anyone facing her chaotic schedule.
Let’s talk about how she came to earn our ultimate respect for her award this month. She was working a second shift for a client when her replacement called to say she could not make it in for the overnight shift. We immediately called Ann to let her know we may need her to stay an hour or two longer while we scramble to find a replacement for the overnight shift.
Well, as fate would have it, we could not find anyone with such short notice and Ann ended up arranging to have a sitter come to her house to take care of her kids until the next morning. She ended up working a 17 hour shift that day/night.
Pretty stellar performance right? Well that’s not the half of it. When I found out about how much trouble she went through to make the arrangements to stay with our client, I was nervous that she had to pay for child care unexpectedly so I called her to thank her and ask how that all worked out. She told me it cost her $12 / hr for an overnight sitter! OMG! We do not pay her that much, plus when taxes are taken out, she probably lost about $4 / hr on that shift, but she never said a word to us about that.
I asked her why not and she replied, “well, they are such a nice family and I knew it was costing me money but we really did not have any other options, so I stayed and took care of them, and Mrs. X gave me a nice hug when I left so it was worth it”!
Need I say anything more?
And yes, I reimbursed her for the childcare expense that night, with glee I might add !
Dan Gauthier
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