Caregiving Continues to Be a Ministry for Arnetta
Arnetta Stokes’ miraculous caregiving feats have never ended. Eleven years after Arnetta was honored as the Care Professional of the Year at Home Instead® of Clawson, Michigan, she recently saved a 99-year-old client’s life in the middle of the night. The story came to light after Arnetta was selected as the Home Instead franchise’s Care Pro of the Month for May.
Arnetta’s client was a retired doctor. She worked a double shift while assisting him, first from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and returning from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. in a pinch for the Home Instead staff who had been scrambling to fill the vacant shift. Arnetta, the compassionate and consummate team player, volunteered to return to the care community.
The client’s oxygen level dropped dangerously in the middle of the night, and Arnetta was there to alert the nurses. Sadly, the client died five days later. But, for one night, Arnetta was his angel. Perhaps “it was meant to be,” an expression that is often used to explain the inexplicable. The truth be told, Arnetta believes her job is a ministry. That’s her approach to life.
Arnetta put her 15-year Home Instead career in perspective: “Working for this franchise has been a blessing for me. I have worked with seniors from all different backgrounds. Owner Bert Copple and General Manager Anne Monaghan are good people, and I am grateful to be with Home Instead. They have always been kind-hearted and care about their Care Pros. Bert dug my car out of a heavy snow once. Bert is always there for us. He is encouraging.”
Arnetta added: “I’ll be 70 on my next birthday. I thank God for this job. While I am still going strong, I believe the time will come when I hope to shift into an advocate’s role for vulnerable seniors. I have a passion to help others. God loves seniors. He has placed this feeling I have for seniors deeply inside me. I am patient with seniors. In fact, I know I take care of seniors as God watches.”
It is no surprise that Arnetta’s favorite Bible verse is Proverbs 15:3: “The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.” Arnetta explained: “The verse’s meaning is simple. The eyes of the Lord are watching no matter where a person is. I tell my clients if someone mistreats them, God is watching and will handle it at some point. One of my other favorite verses also concerns seniors. Isaiah 46:4 says: ‘Even to your old age I am He, even when you turn gray I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.’ ”
Arnetta’s current client is the 97-year-old widow whose husband was Arnetta’s client for 2½ years before he passed away in April. “Before her husband died,” Arnetta said, “she asked, ‘Could you also stay with me?’ Even though she is 97, she looks like she’s in her 70s. She is independent and wants to keep up her pace. She says, ‘I don’t want everyone do everything for me.’ She goes to bridge clubs. She keeps busy with her family and has seven kids who deeply love each other. She is very good to me, and her kids also are good to me. They call her every day. Her daughters were happy that she wanted me.”
Clients, she said, are not just a paycheck. “You are helping a human being. They are to be treated the way God wants us to treat them, with love and dignity.”
Arnetta related to her seniors’ stories through her observations in a free-verse poetry compilation called “Can You Hear Me?” Arnetta’s words engendered a soulful spiritual perspective of what she is doing as a Home Instead Care Pro. In an excerpt from that poem, Arnetta wrote:
“Can someone please try to understand me? I’m not a mean man as so many think, just so tired of being the way that I am (having suffered a stroke and unable to speak). Then, one day, a CAREGiver came into my home. I grabbed her by the arm, and she looked into my eyes, which made me feel secure. She didn’t seem to be frightened, and she said everything is going to be OK ... I finally felt like someone would listen and care about the man that was trapped inside this twisted body without a voice. I felt like there was hope again.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (248) 203-2273 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
