Our Personal Assistants

Caregiving comes naturally to Christina Mathena, a 21-year-old HomeWell Personal Assistant who’s been caring for others nearly all her life. Mathena has worked in the realm of senior care for more than four years, and she serves as the state-approved individual provider of care for her disabled brother.

“Ever since I was little I helped out taking care of my brother, so caretaking comes naturally to me,” she said.

“I’ve always had a caretaker personality. I love it.”

Mathena currently serves as a full-time HomeWell Personal Assistant to one senior client. She said HomeWell took the time to match her with the right client, in terms of both their personalities and the client’s particular needs.

“We go for walks, and he tells me about the history of our town and the different things he did in the war,” Mathena said. “I’m like a HomeWell housewife is the way I put it. I do the cooking, I do the cleaning, and I help him with his personal care.”

Besides performing household tasks and providing personal care, Mathena also is a registered nurse assistant, so she has the training to deliver increased personal assistance, should the need arise. Although she has certification in medical assisting as well, Mathena said she prefers a career in home care.

“Giving care through HomeWell is more of a personal relationship than working in a doctor’s office,” she said. “I love the relationship you gain with your client — the friendship.

“You go home and think about all the things you got done for somebody who wasn’t able to do it themselves,” Mathena continued. “You go home with a lot of accomplishments.”

This HomeWell Personal Assistant said she plans to continue taking courses on the route to becoming a registered nurse.

However, Mathena doesn’t see herself working in a traditional office or hospital environment, but continuing to provide care where her patients are most comfortable.

“I plan to be a traveling nurse,” she said, “so I can go to people’s homes and help them out instead of working in a hospital.”

Meet Ebrima Dibba

Ebrima Dibba is a firm believer in the Golden Rule — treating others as he would like to be treated himself. As a HomeWell Senior Care Personal Assistant for the past four years, he has put this famous rule to work with his clients and gained great popularity.

“You have to understand that life is a long-term process, and tomorrow I might need the same help from other people that I provide to my clients today,” said Dibba, who is a native of the West African country The Gambia. “I keep that understanding in the back of my mind at all times.

“I know that if I have really honestly taken care of other people,” he continued, “then other people might really honestly take care of me.”

Aside from living the Golden Rule, Dibba also said he enjoys working with seniors for the knowledge and life lessons they can provide.

“I will always prefer to work with seniors,” he said. “They preach the values of life, the importance of life and the things they have gone through.

“Seniors will always tell you something they have learned in their lifetime,” he added.

As a HomeWell Personal Assistant, Dibba does all kinds of tasks for his elderly clients. From cooking and cleaning to driving clients to events and appointments, his goal is to enhance and make life easier for the seniors with whom he works.

“I consider this one of the best jobs a person could ever do,” Dibba said, “working for people who are not able to perform these tasks for themselves. People appreciate that, and I work with them with respect and dignity.”

When it comes to fun, Dibba and his HomeWell clients typically enjoy activities such as dancing, listening to music, watching TV and reading.

“They like me to read to them,” he said, “because they enjoy hearing my accent.”

Dibba came to the United States from The Gambia as an international student. He currently is studying political science, international relations and economics, and his work with HomeWell Senior Care is helping to pay the tuition fees.

“That makes me love this job even more,” Dibba said.

Meet Carol Lee

After years spent serving in the ministry of her church, Carol Lee decided she would like to make a living doing work that was just as rewarding. For Lee, that meant caring for others as a Personal Assistant with HomeWell Senior Care.

“When I take care of people, I get so much satisfaction,” Lee said. “My soul is fulfilled by this — it’s really kind of my dedication, my commitment to life.

“I have a heart for seniors,” she added. “Although I take care of them, really they are nourishing my soul.”

Lee has been a Personal Assistant with HomeWell Senior Care for about three years, and she has served a handful of elderly clients in that time, several of whom required care after an operation.

“There was one woman who had back surgery, and I took care of her for 24 hours a day for a week,” she said. “Now she only needs six hours a day, as she’s recovering.

“We’ve been dancing together, to get her moving,” Lee continued, “and she’s laughing again.”

In order to assist her clients, Lee helps out with all the details of daily living, from making sure the right medicine is taken at the right time to cleaning the house and watering the plants.

“I get the newspaper; cook breakfast, lunch and dinner; help with showers and baths,” she said. “It’s a lot like working within your own family or doing chores at your own house.”

It’s the quality of companionship with her clients, however, that Lee considers the greatest responsibility — and reward — of working as a Personal Assistant.

“HomeWell chose me to take care of these people,” Lee said.

“So I care for each one as if she was my own grandmother. These are real, precious and noble people.

“They need someone to pay attention,” she added. “They need lots of empathy, and the caregiver is there to recognize that the client’s life is important.”

Lee cited patience and loyalty as two of the most important traits a Personal Assistant can possess, along with the compassion necessary to continue connecting with clients.

“We are their security, like family,” she said. “They have lovely children, but they’re all busy with their own jobs, so they need someone there, someone very trustworthy, just to sit down on the sofa together, maybe watch TV — just have somebody there.”