Special to IFN
Hazel Smith’s relationship with her grandmother is intertwined with her work career, her faith and her outlook on life, which is rooted in an unshakeable commitment to family members and vulnerable seniors.
Smith, whose senior-care journey brought her to the Home Instead franchise that serves Mooresville, Statesville and Taylorsville and the surrounding areas in 2024, was recently honored with the Home Instead Care Pro Excellence Award.
“My calling in life is this field, professional senior care. I started in this line of work when I was 18. That’s when I also began staying with my grandmother to assist her as health was going downhill. She did not want to go to a nursing home, and I wanted to follow her wishes,” Smith said.
The wisdom she acquired from her grandmother is immeasurable.
“She was a housewife who also was a well-known midwife and was well-respected in the Stony Point community. People treated her as if she was their grandmother,” Smith recalled. “She had observations from the Bible, and I loved listening to her. Even now, one of my favorite Bible verses is from Psalm 46:10: ‘Be still and know that I am God. … ’ Grandma was very much a Christian whose faith never wavered. I loved my grandmother.”
At age 18, Hazel didn’t think twice about handling two responsibilities: Taking care of her grandmother during the day and working full time at a skilled-care community overnight.
“My boyfriend stayed with Grandma at night. I was a Personal Care Attendant and later became a Certified Medication Aide,” said Smith, whose grandmother passed away at age 99.
She has devoted her life to helping others.
Her grandmother wasn’t the only recipient of Hazel’s family caregiving. She also took care of her father, who became ill and eventually died on August 17, 2003. She then took care of her brother for as long as she could after he was injured in a motorcycle wreck. He eventually had to go to a skilled-care community because of his medical challenges. Smith’s mother began facing medical challenges in 2022, and Hazel kept her at home until she had to go to the hospital. Continuing in a downward spiral, Hazel’s mother died in early 2024.
In 2024, Smith finished four years of private-duty caregiving when a client passed away. As spring turned into summer that year, she was flipping through the pages of an advertising booklet that she found inside a grocery store where she saw an advertisement for the Home Instead franchise owned by Creighton and Tracey Gibson.
“After I read about Home Instead and researched them, I said to myself, ‘This is the one,’ ” Smith said. “It turned out that Home Instead is a good, honest company that cares about its clients and their employees. This is where I need to be.”
Smith described Home Instead as “a Christian environment that feels really good, awesome, in fact.” The staff, she said, is very loving and caring.
As Smith looks to the future, she is focused on providing the best service possible to her clients.
“With the help of Home Instead’s flexible scheduling, I am working toward becoming a Nurse Aid I or Nurse Aid II, whatever the Lord blesses me with,” she said. “I want to attain one of those levels of certification in honor of my two late aunts who had reached RN and LPN status. I have Home Instead to thank as I press forward.”
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All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call 704.924.9909 or apply online at https://www.homeinstead.com/location/455/home-care-jobs/. For further information about Home Instead, visit https://www.homeinstead.com/location/455/.