Melissa S.

Hi my name is Erin. Let me start by telling you why I got into this line of work to begin with. My dad is 60 yrs old now but in 2013 he was diagnosed with leukemia. He went through several rounds of chemo and then his bone marrow transplant. After a bone marrow transplant they give you medicine to keep you from rejecting the transplant. He was so sick and not getting any better. He began having siezures which lead the doctors to do more tests to find out why and when they did they found that he was allergic to the medicine and it had caused him to have several strokes. From there he went on to an acute care facility and to rehab but he was never the same. It left him paralyzed. While he was in and out if these facilities we saw so many things that were just wrong. Patients calling for nurses and the nurses never went to help. After that we took him home and mother and I learned to care for my father ourselves. After all that I decided I was going to go into home healthcare to care for people so that they didn't have to go to a nursing home because people deserve to be loved and cared for just like my father. This personal experience is what makes me a great caregiver.

I have years of experience taking care of my father who was chronically ill. I am currently employed as a medical assistant and I have daily interaction with geriatric patients. I am attracted to being a care giver because of the relationship I had with my father through his illness, it taught me that when someone is going through that type of situation in their life that, this is when they need love the most. I enjoy seeing my care go to someone who is in need, even though some people may not even know that they are getting the care it is all the same in my heart. I am proud to say that I achieve personal goals daily by stepping out of my comfort zone to go the extra mile.