Alimatu Y.

I have been a caretaker most of my adult life. I took care of my mother for several years while she was ill with Lupus and worked in several nursing homes, assisted living and independent living facilities. I understand the worry of having someone to assist and keep your love one company and ensuring that they are well "looked" after while you are away. I have been a certified nurse's assistant and activty director for both nursing homes and assisted living facilities and I understand the importance of keeping people activite and happy. Taking care of elderly or sick people is my passion. I cook very well, sew, do arts and crafts and can lead low to high elements of exercise. I know professional techniques to get my clients engaged or just make them laugh. I assist with bathing, light housekeeping and of course by this message you can tell I love to talk; and if your loved-one is a religious person, I don't mind reading scriptures or praying either. I enjoy being a caregiven and I genuinely care about my clients and their family. I just recently retired from Job Corps after working there 20+ years taking care of at risk youth in a residential setting. After retirement, I decided to go back to working with Seniors as an Activity Director and care taker.

I became a caregiver for my grandfather in 2013. In the beginning the need for my assistance was little. I did some light cooking, cleaning, running of errands and other small tasks he requested. Over the next couple years I took on more and more responsibility and in 2015 he had an accident that left him unable to remain out of bed for longer than a few minutes at a time. From this point I happily took on the responsibility of being his full-time and full-service caregiver. I took care of virtually every aspect of his daily life and began additionally helping him with transportation to and from doctors appointments and physical rehab/therapy, as well as mobility and grooming, yardwork and maintenance, vehicle repairs, and a number of other things that he had a tough time with after the accident. I found this experience to be extremely rewarding, allowing me to use my knowledge and understanding of his health complications to help him live an easier life when things got too difficult to do on his own. This in turn allowed me to develop a deep-rooted and long-lasting relationship with the man I admired for such a long time. Through the course of my 8 years as my grandfather's caregiver, I was able to develop and refine personal and professional skills that made daily tasks and activities easier and more efficient for both of us. Patience and understanding, sense of urgency, responsibility, reliability, respect and effective communication skills were some of these. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to take care of my grandfather and would enjoy the opportunity to provide the same level of assistance to other families in need.