Near the end of a conversation about her position with Home Instead® of Itasca, Illinois, Care Professional of the Month Jennet wanted to make one thing clear: “I am not looking to go anywhere else to work. Relationships mean too much to me.”
Jennet paused for a moment and added: “I am happy with my client. From my heart and soul, I try to assist him to the very best of my ability.”
And to think, her current client, a widower, was not originally Jennet’s client – his late wife was. “The husband made sure I knew that he wanted me to focus on his wife,” recalled Jennet, who joined owner Kelly Hutchison’s award-winning Home Instead® franchise July 27, 2023. “His wife needed the help, but I included her husband where I could with things such as meals and other forms of assistance. It just made sense and was good manners. They both liked my meals. They were family.”
Sadly, the wife client passed away in early April after a series of stays at a hospital and rehabilitation facility. Describing a poignant moment, Jennet said: “She looked to me to help her on one special occasion a week before she died. I helped her organize her jewelry box. While she was giving me the history of each piece of jewelry, she held my hand. I felt special.”
After the wife client passed away at age 90, her husband, 91, requested Jennet’s help. “I got to know him well because I drove him to see his wife at the hospital or rehabilitation facility,” Jennet said. On a special November day last year, the couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in the wife’s hospital room.
Jennet holds his current client and his late wife in the highest esteem. “They are a good example for our generation to follow because of their wisdom, kindness and achievements. They are good people and deserved a good life. His late wife and I would walk around the house and talk. I’d tell her, ‘If you are happy, I am doubly happy.’ Their happiness is important to me.”
Perhaps Jennet was destined to be a Care Pro at the Chicago-area Home Instead franchise after she conducted an online job search. Her family and friends say the same thing: “Jennet is a people-person who loves to help others. She cannot say no. She helps a friend and then a friend of a friend and on and on. She is like a human Siri.”
Training Coordinator Jackie Washburn said: “Jennet’s been with us for a little more than a year, and what a year it has been. Right away, she nestled in nicely with her clients, primarily caring for the wife until her recent passing. Jennet has since remained as the husband’s Care Pro this whole time, never wavering. Jennet displays Home Instead’s guiding principles of ‘Build Trust, Take the Lead and Share Your Heart.’ ”
Jackie added: “For Jennet, touching lives impacts her soul, whether she is providing physical help such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, medication reminders or personal care or if she is offering emotional support in a companionship role. Among the considerations for achieving Care Pro of the Month status, an employee has shown she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Empathy and compassion are taken into account for the award, as well as skill and wisdom for dealing with challenging situations.”
“I am so happy with Home Instead. The staff is so good. If I call with a question, Nancy, Alina or any other staff member can help me. They are good to me and I am appreciative,” Jennet said.
Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (847) 690-9825 or apply online at homeinstead.com/location/205/home-care-jobs. For further information about Home Instead visit our website.
