{"id":696,"date":"2016-10-24T22:06:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T22:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/?p=696"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:02:06","slug":"going-above-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/2016\/10\/24\/going-above-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Above And Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of FirstLight\u2019s beloved caregivers works small miracles every day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Congratulations\"

Caregiver of the Month Award Winner<\/p><\/div>\n

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, \u201cDon\u2019t\u2026\u201d But it was too late. The woman began to choke. \u201cI said, \u2018Are you okay?\u2019 Jaki remembers. \u201cBut she couldn\u2019t 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\u2019t help. She passed out. I lowered her to the floor, grabbed a phone and dialed 911, then began CPR.\u201d Emergency medical technicians soon arrived and transported the woman to the hospital, where the blueberry blocking her airway was eventually dislodged. Thanks to Jaki\u2019s quick action, the 92-year-old woman is now doing just fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time I had ever used my CPR training,\u201d says Jaki from Paterson, NJ. \u201cIt 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\u2019t been there and did what I did, she wouldn\u2019t have made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cI take my job seriously,\u201d she explains. \u201cI take care of elderly families, and these people really need help. They depend on me. And I help them with cheerfulness and willingness.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cSure I wish I could have stayed home. It\u2019s a holiday, and I\u2019d like to be with my family,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they depend on me. So I have to put my feelings aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaki comes to work each day in large part because of the satisfaction she gets knowing she is helping people. \u201cTo know that I\u2019ve done a very good job of taking care of them makes me feel good,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can change someone\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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. \u201cYou have to have a lot of patience,\u201d Jaki explains. \u201cYou have to know how to be sensitive to the situation because every situation is different and people have different personalities.\u201d 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. \u201cIf you treat people with respect, it will return to you,\u201d Jaki says.<\/p>\n

She feels the same way about her relationship with her employer. \u201cI like FirstLight very much,\u201d she says. \u201cThey 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\u2019s me needing some time off for an emergency or if something is going on with one of my clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s been with them since she began working at FirstLight. \u201cThey look forward to seeing me,\u201d Jaki says, smiling. \u201cBefore I come each day, they start looking for me, standing at the window. It\u2019s just something else. It gives me great satisfaction and great pride that I\u2019m appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of FirstLight\u2019s beloved caregivers works small miracles every day. 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, \u201cDon\u2019t\u2026\u201d But it was too…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4,10,5,11],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caregiver-resources","tag-award","tag-caregiver","tag-homecare","tag-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-glen-rock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}