“When My Clients Are Happy, I’m Happy.” Meet Our 2025 Home Health Aide of the Year Winner!

For Karen Williams, being a Personal Care Home Health Aide means showing up every day with a smile—and never giving up. When she tells her clients “I’m not leaving,” she means it.

Karen joined VNS Health in 2009 and has provided care and companionship to dozens of clients since then. Currently, she cares for an older couple with dementia, seeing to their groceries, cooking meals, doing laundry, going with them to doctor’s appointments—everything they need so they can continue to live in their home. Although the couple speaks primarily Greek and Karen does not, they understand one another, communicating seamlessly through gestures and intuition. And over the years, she’s also mastered their Greek-style food preferences.

Even on her days off, Karen answers her clients’ phone calls and has been known to come in if she can help the care team navigate a complex issue. “They need me,” she says of the couple. “They are so close to me.”

In nominating Karen for VNS Health’s 2025 Home Health Aide of the Year award, her supervisors praised her for not only her perfect attendance but also for the fact that she’s always going above and beyond for her clients and colleagues. “Karen steps up at every opportunity,” said one nomination.

When faced with difficult situations, she plants her feet firmly and works through them. She recalls caring over a six-years period for a hard-to-please couple who challenged the entire care team. “I told the clients, ‘This is my job. I’m not leaving,’ and I kept coming back,” she says. Karen’s persistence transformed the relationship as she gradually won their trust and affection.

Growing up in Guyana caring for elderly family members, Karen always knew she wanted to devote her career to caring for vulnerable older people. Today, she continues to find the work as rewarding as she’d hoped. “When they’re happy, I’m happy,” she says of her clients. “I signed up for this, and I love it!”

Each Monday morning she’s reminded how rewarding her work is. The husband of the couple she cares for opens the door himself, smiling as he greets her. “Karen, welcome to the club,” he says. He calls Karen his doctor and his best friend, telling her, “You’re like a daughter to me.”

To new home health aides, Karen offers this seasoned advice: “Go in with your eyes open. Prepare for the unexpected. Sometimes things are good, sometimes hard, but we always have to stay and do our job.”

Patience is everything, adds Karen. The first day with a client, or even the first week, might be frustrating, she notes. “But that second week, you’ll get progress,” she says. “Once you get that first smile, that means they’ve started to accept you. You’ll get there—just keep showing up.”