Saluting Angela Richardson, a Partners in Care HHA Since 1981

Over the past several weeks, Frontline VNSNY has been profiling a select group of home health aides (HHAs) who have been with Partners in Care since it was acquired by VNSNY in 1983, and in some cases even longer. This week, we salute the third member of this group: Angela Richardson, who joined Partners in Care in 1981.

Angela Richardson: Going the Extra Mile for Her Clients

Partners in Care home health aide (HHA) Angela Richardson grew up in Princes Town, Trinidad, in a home big enough to house three generations within its walls: her grandparents, her parents, and Angela and her nine siblings. In the late 1960s, her beloved grandmother Nanny had a stroke, and Angela pitched in as her mother Brinnette took care of her—a foretaste of their future careers for mother and daughter alike.

A decade later, Brinnette moved to New York. She knew she wanted to go to work as a home health aide, given the experience she’d gained caring for her mother. Accordingly, she applied for work at Partners in Care in 1979, went through training, and began working as a home health aide. Angela, then 16 years old, lived with her mother in Brooklyn and attended Prospect High School, where she excelled in Science and Social Studies. A year after graduating, she joined her mother at Partners in Care, and 1981 she became a home health aide there—two years before Partners in Care merged with VNSNY. (Brinnette, long retired, now lives back home in Trinidad.)

In her 36-plus years with the agency (including 34 as part of VNSNY) Angela has worked with more than 400 clients. For the past six months, she has provided care for two clients. One of them, who lives only four blocks away from her in Crown Heights, is Lamar*, a former exterminator in his late 60s, who says he wishes Angela would never leave. Even though Lamar is what Angela describes as “the silent type,” he is so grateful for her care that he rang up the Partners in Care offices to express his appreciation for what he called her “incredible efficiency” during her shifts at his apartment. “Angela is the best,” he says. “She just knows what to do, and does it.”

Her other client, who she cared for until very recently, is Audrey*, a former Partners in Care HHA herself. Audrey would often tell Angela how much she loves her, which was music to her caretaker’s ears. “I always go the extra mile to make a patient’s home better,” Angela says. To that end, she worked hard to keep every inch of Audrey’s house sparkling clean.

Angela plans to stay on the job another seven years, until she’s eligible to enroll in Social Security. “For more than three decades, I’ve loved my work and my patients, especially those who have no family nearby,” she says. “When I turn 62 and retire, I’ll regret having to say goodbye—not only to my patients, but also to my friends and supervisors at Partners in Care, who have done so much for me.”

*The clients’ names have been changed for privacy.