VIDEO This is the fourth year of our Exceptional Caregiver Awards at Home Helpers ® Home Care and I believe I’ve seen every possible type of nomination. Often it can be the owner of an office who wants to reward a Caregiver for their willingness to do extra work, or a co-worker who has used another Caregiver’s work ethic as an example for how they should do their job. Many times it’s grateful family members, particularly daughters, who have acted as Caregiver for an ailing parent and knows how strenuous that can be at times.
But in the case of Stacy Crawford of Home Helpers of Alpharetta (Georgia), it was the husband of her client who wrote a powerful and moving nomination. When office owners Hilary and Greg Eldridge had me read this nomination, I could see why they were so proud of this Caregiver.
For privacy reasons, I’ll leave out the names of the family, but here is the husband’s story (edited for length and clarity):
I have prayed for 40 years now that I will outlive (my wife) so I can always take care of her . . . She was diagnosed 45 years ago with rheumatoid arthritis, has had 30 surgeries, stem cell implants, dozens of fractures/broken bones, she’s been through so much . . . and hasn’t been able to hold our grandchildren.
She has had so many incidents that led to significant injuries that have made us both so fearful of something else bad happening.
For example, a year prior to meeting Stacy, my wife was recovering from knee surgery and had been in the hospital and rehab for over 4 months. We both were so happy for her to come home. I pulled up at the rehab to pick her up and the med tech who wheeled her out to the car, instead of performing a proper transfer, instead pushed her from behind out of the wheelchair, causing my wife to fall face forward right in front of me as she broke both of her femur bones. It was very traumatic. She spent the next 6 months recovering from that injury.
We were very nervous about getting help at home, but without question Stacy has been a Godsend for us. Stacy has been with us for almost 2 ½ years. The first day we came home from our hospital stay, after almost a year in hospital and rehab, Stacy met us and she’s been with us ever since.
Stacy always comes in singing and whenever she comes in she brings in happiness and joy . . . I know that every day things are going to be good because when she comes in she immediately starts to work.
At this point you’re probably thinking, “wow, that’s a family who’s been through a lot” and feel glad they have Stacy in their lives. But there’s more – so much more:
Stacy has gone above and beyond so many times, but about a year and a half ago I was sitting in the other room. Suddenly, I passed out and Stacy heard me drop stuff on the floor. She rushed in, took complete control, called 911 and got me rushed to the hospital. The next day I had surgery to install a pacemaker. Remember, I’m not even the client but who knows what might have happened if Stacy hadn’t been there…
Then recently Stacy walked in and showed me an article about a medication recall that happened to be one of my wife’s medications. Stacy saw it and knew that it was important that we were made aware of it and we were able to make the necessary changes.
Those are two specific times that I can remember, but I can’t count the number of times that I’ve said “I wish I had this or that” and she’ll walk in with it…and again, I’m not the client, but she’s looking after me as well. When she walks in every morning I feel a real sense of peace because I know that my wife will be taken care of and I won’t have to worry about her anymore because I know everything will be handled properly.
Even more impressive, right? But here’s the part that really got me:
We love Stacy and we’ve invited her into our family. We had our fiftieth wedding anniversary last year and Stacy came to help my wife get in and out of the restaurant. We wanted to have a group family photo and we wanted Stacy to be in the photo. Stacy said she wasn’t part of the family and everyone said “yes you are, too!” so she is forever in our 50th wedding anniversary photo.
Congratulations to Stacy Crawford on her nomination! She’s certainly deserving of joining us in New Orleans as a Regional Winner in our Exceptional Caregiver Awards.
