A Tradition of Great Caregiving
The Mary Steibel CAREGiverSM of the Year Award inspires CAREGivers to strive for excellence. It creates a sense of pride in the fact that the Home Instead Senior Care ® franchise network recognizes, appreciates and rewards their hard work, dedication and service to others. Meet the Home Instead Senior CAREGiver of the Year.
Lisa Barr Kazmierczak , CAREGiver of the Year 2010
Great Lakes Region
Lisa Barr Kazmierczak saw eyelids flutter. Her client, who had vowed not to get out of bed that day, was curious. The client and CAREGiver had exchanged words that, had she believed them, would have broken Lisa's heart. Despite encouragement, the client refused to rise and shine. Lisa told her she would check again in 15 minutes, but the client told her not to bother.
Refusing to accept she was unable to lift the client's spirits, Lisa hatched a plan. She entered the bedroom sweeping and singing "Mr. Sandman." When the client began to watch her, Lisa launched into an act.
"I'm going to entertain you," she said. She used her broom as a microphone and danced. The client rose to the challenge. They danced and sang, "Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream. Make him the cutest that I've ever seen..." Then, they laughed until they cried.
That "Mr. Sandman" duet was a long time in the making. Lisa assisted in moving the client from physically unable to physically able. The Great Lakes Region CAREGiver of the year stood beside the client as she graduated from a wheelchair to a walker to dancing.
A head-on car accident left the client, once a model for successful aging, physically and mentally in tatters. Having always encouraged her Home Instead Senior Care employers to entrust their most complicated clients to her, Lisa accepted the responsibility of taking on the care of both this woman and her husband.
A daughter summed up what Lisa faced after her mother was released from a rehabilitation hospital: "The stress on our family was profound. We had no idea how we would proceed. My father was overwhelmed. My mother took care of nearly every aspect of running my parents' household. Now, my father found himself with his wife of 50 years completely dependent, and he had no clue how to take care of her. My mother would refuse to get out of bed, she'd refuse to participate in physical therapy. She was agitated and resentful."
Lisa, who discovered at the age of 17 that caring for seniors was her life's calling, stepped in. She developed her senior care philosophy with an expert advisor, Melvin, an adopted grandparent. "I thank God he was in my life," she said. "He knew so much. I was like a sponge and absorbed everything."
Melvin taught Lisa first-hand history lessons and how to open her heart to a senior. She kept him socially engaged.
"Everybody dies," Lisa said, "but not everybody lives. I make sure they live."
Lisa puts more life into seniors' days by limiting TV time and getting them moving. "We go to museums, libraries, for walks around a lake. I have painted with folks, crafted with folks, 'bingoed' with them. It depends on the person. I am a chameleon. I become the color they need me to be," she said.
Her ready-for-anything attitude includes donning a bathing suit for a client's aqua therapy session. A family member treasures Lisa's education in physical therapy in assisting her mother's recovery.
This daughter, a physician, wrote of her, "Lisa is always present as a curious, active participate, taking mental notes, learning, asking appropriate questions. She sought to understand what impairments were present and how they would impact physical and mental activity, then worked around them using tips given. Her positive outlook has served my parents well. She is always respectful, and is careful to preserve their dignity and autonomy. She is able to juggle the two very different personalities of my parents - a feat in and of itself."
The family also was impressed with Lisa's willingness to let their mother provide wedding planning advice. "She was getting in a little funk," Lisa recalls. Knowing the client was once an expert party planner, Lisa broached the topic of her wedding, and asked for reception suggestions. "She lit up like a firefly," Lisa said. "My wedding was both hers and mine. It was a great memory trigger for her. I would say, 'I found a dress,' and she would say, 'Your wedding dress.' It was wonderful, because she would remember."
The client and her husband were among the guests at the Kazmierczaks' wedding.
Jean Lee Howe, the CAREGiver Recruitment and Retention Coordinator at the Wyomissing, PA, franchise, said Lisa "has scattered diamonds along her path."
Since beginning at Home Instead in April 2005 she "embraced all she met with her smile. Her innate ability to accept and respect each individual blesses those she serves. She has consistently dedicated herself to creating a partnership of trust with clients and co-workers alike," Jean Lee wrote.
Lisa said her Home Instead Senior Care leaders, along with her clients, deserve credit for her ability to deliver outstanding care. Friends who volunteer with Lisa at Meals on Wheels told Home Instead they should recruit Lisa as a CAREGiver.
From her first meeting with Franchise Owners JoAnn Speicher, Frank Speicher and Jennifer Moyer, Lisa was impressed. "I knew it was home. It felt like a family. They are so compassionate, caring and loving. Their approach to care was on the same path as mine, and then some. They are one step ahead," she said.
Decades from now, if she slows down, Lisa sees herself working from the Home Instead Senior Care Franchise Office, serving as a trusted resource to CAREGivers and providing advice that she's depended on from Home Instead's leadership. In the meanwhile, she will ensure her clients and their families stay engaged in the art of living. "I always do the best I can for my client," Lisa said. "I know it's impossible to be perfect, but I am always striving to be a better human being for others."
Past CAREGivers of the Year