As a college graduate, I found employment on a geriatric unit at UNC hospitals. My time there proved to be the most meaningful of any jobs . I developed a special fondness for seniors and became aware of the wisdom they had to share.

Even today, I remember heart-warming stories shared by patients because of the impact they had on my life at the time. Due to a growing family, I moved on to serve patients as a Psych Nurse, an Office Nurse in Internal Medicine, and later a School Nurse, but knew I would eventually find my way back to serving seniors.

The last six years I have had the honor of serving seniors again in their homes, in assisted living centers, and even in hospice. After persevering through obstacles when my own father became ill, I took what I learned and used it to pave the road to building Senior Care Advocates of North Georgia.

Finding the right care for our aging loved ones is often met with obstacles. My father was abruptly discharged from an understaffed rehab facility and we were given a handful of pamphlets and told to pursue in-home care. We weren’t told how to pay for it or told what precisely would be needed.

We called several in-home providers, but each gave varying information about what care my dad needed. We spent countless hours calling state and county agencies. We soon learned we needed to know exactly what to ask for (the buzz words that make things happen)! The search for answers and care required more time than we had available. We needed someone to answer our questions…a person who understood the fragile state our family was in. We needed someone to asses our needs and advocate for our loved one.

Being an RN myself wasn’t enough, unless I was available 24 hours a day, and I wasn’t. I needed someone to take me by the hand and guide me through all the pamphlets and red tape. It was an emotional time ……watching a parent lose their independence.

*I graduated with a BSN form the University of North Carolina.*