After working for 25+ years in the human services field, I decided to establish a home care agency to help individuals with developmental disabilities feel a sense of success and enjoyment in their lives.

I began working in the medical field after graduating from high school. I worked in a small, community hospital in the billing office and then moved to the Admissions Desk in the Emergency Room. Working in an emergency room is often scary but it does give you the opportunity to work with people that are in crisis. It can be a very fast paced environment and you often have to learn as you go. I learned how to better handle both minor and life threatening situations and gained understanding about how people deal with emergency situations.

I decided to stop working for awhile to start a family. After my second child was born I decided to return to school to obtain certification as an Executive Medical Secretary. I was interested in medical office administration and felt this training would be a good fit. One of the certification requirements was to participate in an internship program in a medical facility. I took a job as a receptionist/billing clerk in an Urgent Care facility in Ashtabula County. After 2 months I was promoted to Office Manager. As Office Manager I was responsible for overseeing non-medical staff and the coordination of services by staff. This began the start of my career in a Human Resources role that also involved billing services, collections, scheduling and direct contact with patients. This position also gave me the opportunity to learn other areas of an Urgent Care facility. I would often assist in the Lab, X-ray, Physical Therapy and Minor Surgery. I was able to further my skills in communication, time management, Problem-solving and attention to detail while operating within the policies and procedures of the medical facility.

After 5 years I decided to move on to another area of interest for me. While in high school I was interested in Sociology and Psychology. I took a position as Office Manager for a private mental health practice. It was a 1 person office, working with 2 Psychologists and an LISW. In this job I was the initial point of contact for all patients and provided all general office duties as well as billing, transcription, travel arrangements, and small claims collections for unpaid patient accounts. I loved this job and ended up staying for almost 10 years.

I continued in the Mental Health field for another 10 years working for a Behavioral Health, non-profit agency that worked with kids and families. I was employed as the Executive Assistant to the CEO. This job gave me new opportunities to work in grant writing, fund raising, payroll, HR and to be a liaison between the Board of Trustees and the CEO. While working with this organization I also had the opportunity to work with the Community/Schools Programs Department on their Anti-Bullying campaign, helping to develop the training curriculum to be used by schools. My proudest moment in this job was my participation as a Team Leader developing Human Resources and Executive policy and procedures during the National Accreditation process. This was ultimately one of the best learning experiences in my career.

I began working for a Home Care Agency 5 years ago. I was hired as the HR Manager for this small company that employed about 10 caregivers. I was responsible for writing and implementing HR policy and procedures along with hiring and training caregivers to work with our developmentally disabled clients.

During this time my oldest son married and his wife brought 3 daughters into our family. The youngest daughter had been diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. Viva, one of our 9 grandchildren, has given the entire family a new perspective on the challenges we all face in life and how important our individual independence is. I believe that Viva has helped me better understand the importance of the services provided by excellent caregivers and working within the community. I became more involved with our clients, learning more about client care and how important it is to establish solid relationships with both the clients and their families.

As CEO of Victory HomeCare, LLC I will work hard to provide quality caregivers that will promote and ensure care plans that will assist our clients and their families feel a sense of comfort, accomplishment, independence and success in their lives.

Our success as a company depends on the success of the clients we serve.