Mellisa Bobnock, Iron River, MI., Certified Nursing Assistant, enjoys being at home with family and gardening. She has been a home care worker with the same agency for 16 years. She got into it because she wanted to help people, enjoyed working with older adults, and discovered she loved the one-on-one care and relationships that develop. She has also done some work in an assisted living facility where the advantage is that “if the client passes away or goes in the nursing home, you still have your hours. You don’t lose your hours. In-home healthcare, sometimes they don’t have new clients all the time, so you’re kinda stuck there for a while without any clients. You can’t count on the income.”
Melissa seems to take everything in stride, no matter what the situation. She provides assistance from companionship to what she calls the “top priority” clients, those who are bedridden and need the most help. She’s often called in on the cases that others think are tough yet she says the job is “not tough, it just takes a lot of patience and being the “right kind of person” which she defines as nice, caring, dependable, and easy going with a good attitude. She recalled one client that the other DCWs thought was mean. “They say he’s mean, but he’s not mean. They say that it’s too much work ‘cause they gotta do the Hoyer lift and stuff like that. You gotta do a range of motion on him, and turn him in bed but it’s really not hard. I mean once you get used to doing it, it’s just like not working. You go there, and you just do it.”