Caregiver Of Year Offers What She'd Want For Her Own Loved Ones

POTTSTOWN, PA — A local in-home care and assistance provider has named a Montgomery County woman its Caregiver of the Year for the region for her loving way of telling clients she's there to annoy them for the day, while giving the care she would like one of her own loved ones to have.

Caregiving is not work in which a nonchalant attitude will get you by, according to Campbell, who explained, "This is not a job where you get up and you're like: I have to go work. You have to want to be here. You have to have the personality for it."

Cailin Campbell recently was named Regional Caregiver of the Year in the national franchise's mid-Atlantic region. She works with Pottstown's Right at Home, a 600-plus unit in-home senior care company.

Pottstown Right at Home location owner Steve Gettins said caregivers have always played an important role but this was especially true during the pandemic. Gettins and his wife became franchisees after personal experiences showed them the need in this area, he explained.

Campbell was one of Right at Home's first caregivers to volunteer for care in COVID-19 positive environments. Her boss said she has become the caregiver the brand calls when they first start a new client — when making a lasting impression is so important. She is also the caregiver they call for any emergency shifts that come up.

"I wish we had 100 Cailins," Gettins said.

Campbell, 31, was chosen as Regional Caregiver of the Year in a region that includes Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks county Right at Home caregivers. She's been with the company four years. She's from Schwenksville, and Pottstown is company headquarters.

"My whole life I've been very much a people person. I love people!" Campbell said. "When I heard about the opening, I jumped all over it."

She said she didn't expect to do as well as she has. "I just wanted to make a difference in people's lives. I know that sounds cliche, but that's really true. I try to treat people with the same care I would want one of my loved ones to have."

'Like An Adopted Daughter'

Campbell told Patch stories about her work that reveal the kind of standout caregiver she is.

"A gentleman who's now passed on I had been with since the start of my career. He was a very kind man. He was wheelchair-bound, always looked out for me, remembered my birthday. If something was off, he would notice," she said.

"He was old enough to be my grandfather, but he referred to me as his adopted daughter. He had a pet bird that would sit happily on my shoulder," Campbell recalled.

"I loved his wife; I looked at them like they were my own family. I gave my absolute all to him and his wife and we became very, very close. When he passed, I felt devastated. No one can replace the place he held in my heart."

She told of another special client, a truck who is confined to a wheelchair and who she said "did not like anybody."

She described a gruff character and her own trepidation at being given his case. "You want me to go to his house?"

"I went to his house and I fell in love — in an appropriate way," she said.

After she started caring for the man, he became attached and would call when company when Campbell had a day off.

"I won him over. He was another nice gentleman that I absolutely adored," she said.

A Standout Employee

Campbell's award began with the company's recognition program for a caregiver every month. Gettins explained Right at Home every month looks for caregivers who have consistent client satisfaction, who go above and beyond. From among those, a Caregiver of the Year is named.

There were 400 nominations from the national Right at Home office and eight nominees regionally. Right at Home employs more than 25,000 caregivers nationally.

When COVID-19 concerns loomed large in the spring of 2020, Campbell was unfazed.

"I'm here to do a job and I go into the fire headfirst. I take precautions, but I understood when I took the job that this is the job. I deal with death and dying, I hold their hands, that's what I'm there for, to comfort these people."

Gettins said the pandemic certainly changed things. "We had heightened awareness and training, and communication. It added an administrative layer, but it also endeared us even more to our clients."

Campbell's flexibility extends to her location assignments also. "I'm willing to go wherever, but usually work around Collegeville, sometime in Pottstown, wherever I'm needed."

She hopes to advance in the company eventually, she said, but added, "I've only been here four years. I may move up into the office, do semifield work." She said she'd be reluctant to give up working directly with people.

"I walk in and tell my clients, I am here to annoy you today! They know me," she said, then laughed.

Her boss agreed that she is at her best working face-to-face with clients. "Even if there are those opportunities, it would not quite be Cailin if she didn't have that direct connection with people," Gettins said.

"The biggest testament to her is when she found out she'd been named Caregiver of the Year; she was excited for the whole team, not just about her. I challenge anyone to find a better caregiver with her genuine care for people. She's extremely coachable, doesn't feel like just because she's good at her job she can't improve," her boss said.

He added, "We have to be careful what we ask because she'd work seven days a week if we asked — she actually has, just not consistently."

Campbell admitted it. "Yes, I would work seven days because people don't stop needing care."

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