“Caitlin is a very kind and compassionate caregiver. She goes above and beyond for her clients and it shows as her Clients adore her as much as I do!!! “-Rachelle, Caitlin’s Manager
Tell us a little about you: I grew up in Fort Wayne and lived there until we moved to
Middlebury when I was twelve. I married my husband when we were both seventeen.
We’ve been married for ten years and have two children together. Our son is six, and
our daughter is three.
Tell us more about your children: My son is artistic. He and I enjoy painting together.
We’ve covered his bedroom in canvas paintings from the floor to the ceiling. My
daughter is tall and thin like her dad. She is sweet and cuddly, and also sometimes quiet
and fast. You need to watch your back with her. She likes to run through the house
wielding a spatula in her hand, screaming a battle cry while wearing her Princess Elsa
dress.
How long have you been a caregiver and how long have you worked for Firefly? I fell
into the field—face first! At eighteen, I worked in a factory. I didn’t know what I wanted
to do, but I knew factory work wasn’t for me. I explored other careers and found that
Work One had a program for people with disabilities. I had been in an accident and had
a brain injury from it. Work One gave me an aptitude test, and the results showed I
would be great at caring for people. As part of the program, Work One paid for me to go
to CNA school. The school was affiliated with a home health care agency, and I worked
as a home health aide. I fell in love with the job. I’ve done both retail and restaurant
work occasionally, but I always come back to home health care. I found Firefly two years
ago, when I was visiting my mom who lives in Middlebury. They had a sign outside the
office that they were hiring. When I interviewed for the job, I told them that my children
come first. Other jobs I’d had didn’t understand the importance of this. I’m a mom and
my kids always come first. It’s one reason I love working for Firefly. They respect this.
I’ve worked part time for the past two years, mostly on-demand, but I have one
consistent client that I see now.
What do you like to do outside of work? I’m a naturalist and grow a lot of different
herbs.
Tell us about being a naturalist: After the accident, I was on a lot of medication and
dealing with all the side effects. Some of it was affecting my job. I was often either tired
or sick. Coming of the medications was one of the worst experiences in my life. Along
with my injuries, I have celiac disease and a type of blood cancer. There is no treatment
for celiac disease other than controlling the disease. Over the years, I have researched
ways to heal naturally and how to control celiac disease using herbs. I recently counted
and I have 113 books on this topic! Now, I grow sage, three types of basil, three types of peppermint, lavender, woodworm, ginger, mullein, valarian, and hibiscus. I have enough peppermint to make tea for the whole world! With cold and flu season coming up, I just started using garlic honey—both ingredients come from my garden.
Has anything interesting happened to you recently? We just bought a house two weeks
ago. It’s a ranch house with a pond on the property where we enjoy fishing. The
previous owner surrounded the house with lilies. She also had toad flax, which is a
beautiful flower similar to a bleeding heart.
Can you tell us a little about your one consistent client? I’m normally on-demand,
which is when Firefly calls me when they need a shift covered. But when I began
working with this lady, I fell in love with her. We just clicked. We talk and talk and talk.
We have very different views on some topics, but she is open to my views, and I am
open to hers. It’s great that we can find common ground with our different views on some topics, but she is open to my views, and I am open to hers. It’s great that we can find common ground with our different viewpoints.
