Meichelle Huff, Home Health Aide, Partners in Care

“This is such a rewarding job.”

Becoming a home health aide had always been a goal of Meichelle’s. While looking for work some eight years ago, she took an HHA training course and was immediately assigned several hours of work on cases scattered around New York City. When her supervisor came back to her and asked whether she’d consider a live-in position three days a week in Manhattan, she quickly said yes. It was a life-changing decision.

“My client is an elderly, bedbound lady with Alzheimer’s who never spoke English and is nonverbal—but we have our own way of communicating,” says Meichelle. “I have a song that I’ll sing to her so that she knows that it’s me. As soon as she hears it, she starts reaching her hands out to me.”

Meichelle admits that she was a little nervous to start with. “I had never bathed or changed anybody other than a baby, and my client was heavy when I first began,” she notes. “I soon got used to using a Hoyer lift and to maneuvering her body, though. I don’t have any children of my own, so I say she’s my newborn.” Meichelle also cooks for her client (“soft food that she can chew—she knows all about collard greens now!”) and decluttered her apartment.

The client’s daughters, who live nearby, visit often, and Meichelle has been eager to learn all about their mother’s life. “She was such a lively person,” she says. “She loved to cook… she’d make after-school snacks for all the kids in the building. Her daughters also showed me videos of her dancing. She was not shy about it!” The client’s dancing days may be over, but her spirit has not dimmed, adds Meichelle. “When she smiles, all is good with the world. This is such a rewarding job. And I really love her—as a client and as a person.”