https://paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/print/2020/05/04/guest-blog-restoring-faith-in-one-home-care-agencys-future

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Guest Blog: Restoring Faith in One Home Care Agency’s Future

VANESSA VALERIO, RN,CMC, CHCA VP, COO, Patient Care with Care Indeed, a home-care provider based in Menlo Park, shares with us her challenging and uplifting experience in the middle of the pandemic.

“Every morning we are born again. It’s what we do today that matters most.” - Buddha

COVID-19 seemed to show up in our lives unexpectedly, with force, and pushed the world into what many have coined "the great pause." Initially, during those first weeks, I felt a lot of fear as a business leader - fear of the unknown, fear of failing, and, most importantly, the fear of not being able to fulfill my mission to help and serve others. The interactions with clients and caregivers mirrored my worst fears - halting services to shelter in place with their families for fear of contracting the virus. With retirement facilities on lock-down and our caregiver's now having to navigate risks, childcare, and the possibility of inconsistent work, I would be sugar-coating it if I told you it was easy. It has been one of the most challenging situations we have encountered since founding our business almost a decade ago.

In my quiet moments outside of work, however, I found myself processing and reflecting, and that intense sense of fear began to dissipate slowly. In its wake- a renewed sense of appreciation, clarity, courage, and passion for what we do as home care providers. One word seemed to keep resurfacing in my conversations throughout the community with many business leaders across different industries - RESILIENCE. In difficult times, sometimes the only way out of a negative situation is to lean on each other and move through it. So that's what we did - we regrouped as an organization, held each other's hands, and began to deal with the challenges in front of us head-on. Our clients and caregivers deserved our undivided efforts now more than ever.

Although COVID has been the source of much pain and sorrow for many of us, it has also presented extraordinary opportunities to recenter and restore our strength as individuals and as a community. The situation has unexpectedly forced us to reevaluate how to heal and process trauma on both a professional and personal level.

At Care Indeed, we are choosing to focus on the silver linings and on what we do best - providing quality care to those in our society who are most vulnerable. We started to innovate and come up with creative ways to deliver services that people needed right now, like delivery services, COVID recovery care, companionship, education, and so much more. Once we began to do that, it was both humbling and inspirational to have people within our communities begin to reach out and offer unsolicited support. Experts from all different types of businesses began to reach out and ask, "how can I help?" It restored my faith in the generosity of humanity.

The journey we are in right now has had a profound effect on the way I lead and the way I live my life. COVID has brought me back to the reasons we started this journey in the first place - and that is to serve others.

Vanessa is the Co-Founder of Care Indeed, providing certified in-home care specialists for families and loved ones on the Peninsula and throughout Silicon Valley.
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