One of FirstLight’s beloved caregivers works small miracles every day.
Caregiver of the Month Award Winner
Last February, home health aide Jaki Walters gave the elderly woman she cared for her usual breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries. As the woman began to spoon far too much into her mouth, Jaki cautioned, “Don’t…” But it was too late. The woman began to choke. “I said, ‘Are you okay?’ Jaki remembers. “But she couldn’t answer me. I jumped up and came around behind her and lifted her out of her chair and did several abdominal thrusts, but they didn’t help. She passed out. I lowered her to the floor, grabbed a phone and dialed 911, then began CPR.” Emergency medical technicians soon arrived and transported the woman to the hospital, where the blueberry blocking her airway was eventually dislodged. Thanks to Jaki’s quick action, the 92-year-old woman is now doing just fine.
“It was the first time I had ever used my CPR training,” says Jaki from Paterson, NJ. “It was a very frightening experience, but the EMTs thanked me, the family was very appreciative, FirstLight said I did a good job and thanked me for being part of their team. It was rewarding knowing that if I hadn’t been there and did what I did, she wouldn’t have made it.”
Jaki has been a home health aide with FirstLight Home Care of Bergen County for about a year and a half, having working at another agency and a nursing home after moving to the United States from Jamaica four years ago. And she is one of the things that make the agency special. “I take my job seriously,” she explains. “I take care of elderly families, and these people really need help. They depend on me. And I help them with cheerfulness and willingness.”
Jaki was recently interviewed by The Record newspaper on Labor Day as she was waiting for a train to bring her to Allendale to help an elderly couple. “Sure I wish I could have stayed home. It’s a holiday, and I’d like to be with my family,” she said. “But they depend on me. So I have to put my feelings aside.”
Jaki comes to work each day in large part because of the satisfaction she gets knowing she is helping people. “To know that I’ve done a very good job of taking care of them makes me feel good,” she says. “You can change someone’s outlook on things. Sometimes people are upset with life, very angry or depressed, but with time, you can get them to look forward to your visit, to eat a little more, to want to leave the house again.”
It’s not always easy. Jaki remembers one client who refused to let her in the house and would make her wait outside for 10 minutes before he would finally relent and open the door. “You have to have a lot of patience,” Jaki explains. “You have to know how to be sensitive to the situation because every situation is different and people have different personalities.” The man eventually began unlocking the door before Jaki was due to arrive and became much more receptive to the help she was there to provide. “If you treat people with respect, it will return to you,” Jaki says.
She feels the same way about her relationship with her employer. “I like FirstLight very much,” she says. “They treat me with great respect, and I have a great respect for them as well. I can talk to any member of the staff there and share whatever I am thinking, whether it’s me needing some time off for an emergency or if something is going on with one of my clients.”
Jaki takes care of an elderly couple in Glen Rock each afternoon and evening, helping them cook dinner, reminding them to take their medication and providing companionship. She’s been with them since she began working at FirstLight. “They look forward to seeing me,” Jaki says, smiling. “Before I come each day, they start looking for me, standing at the window. It’s just something else. It gives me great satisfaction and great pride that I’m appreciated.”