Professional & Volunteer
Caregivers
Caregivers serve people who are temporarily or permanently ill or disabled, providing them with companionship and assistance with activities of daily living. Volunteer caregivers tend to be more companions and errand-runners, while professional caregivers may also provide skilled care such as transfers and bed baths. The chief attributes of every caregiver are kindness and patience.
WE REQUIRE ALL CAREGIVERS TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19.
Professional Caregivers
- Health and safety in the home
- Universal hygiene precautions
- Safe transfers
- Personal care
- Professional ethics and boundaries.
We take care to match the skill set of a caregiver to the needs of a client. We are conscientious about considering the personality of the person giving and receiving care, and make placements accordingly.
Coming Home Connection caregivers provide any or all of the full range of home care services listed in the “Services” page of this website, depending on the needs of the client.
Coming Home Connection professional caregivers are independent contractors, paid directly by the client on a sliding scale. There is no charge to the client for our services. By way of contributing to our mission to provide care wherever it is needed, caregivers who are fully employed through Coming Home Connection are asked to volunteer on the order of one to two hours per week for clients who cannot afford to pay.
Steps for becoming
a professional
caregiver
- 1. COMPLETE AN APPLICATION FORM, either in person or online here.
- 2. ATTEND OUR CAREGIVER TRAINING: These weekend trainings take place approximately quarterly over two Saturdays.
- 3. SHADOWING: Following satisfactory completion of the above training session, some candidates may need to complete a shadowing session with an experienced caregiver in a client’s home. CHC requires a background check of all caregiver candidates.
Volunteer
Caregivers
Join our team of caring volunteers
Coming Home Connection Volunteers
Our volunteers go to the heart of Coming Home Connection’s history and mission: they help out in homes that can’t afford to pay for professional care, where family members may be approaching burnout under the relentless pressure of caring for a sick or elderly person, or where the sick person may have no help at all. Their assistance may involve companionship, help around the house, transportation, socialization, and building a relationship including staying abreast of a client’s changing needs.
THINKING ABOUT BECOMING A VOLUNTEER CAREGIVER?
Call us at 505-988-2468 for further information. Fill out an application on-line here or call out office.
Here’s what a few of our caregivers have to say:
Alison Smith
“The value of working with Coming Home Connection is that the staff coordinates the assessment with the client and family. I know that they’ll put a great team together and that’s a big relief for me.”
As with many other caregivers, Alison values her autonomy, not having to clock into a cubicle for a 9:00 am to 5:00 pm job with a lunch break. “It’s very intimate work, and that’s important to me. My job is to help people who are not in a good time and place in their lives — I don’t always get to see the lovely people they used to be — and that can be quite challenging. I feel totally emotionally bound to the family as I try to help them through these difficult periods, working with their loved ones in ways that family members can’t or won’t.”
Barron Preuss
Barron Preuss is studying for his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Santa Fe Community College. He says: “When I participated with Upaya Zen Center’s Being With Dying program, I felt an invisible hand pushing me towards hospice work and I knew that I wanted to be of service to the community, working with the elderly,” he says. “I went to Coming Home Connection’s caregiver training and felt at home! It was nice to meet others like me, a community of people who are excited to learn about caregiving.” He finds that each moment he spends with clients is extremely precious, and that he is learning a great deal every day.
Barbara Baca
I worked for 38 years in Physical Rehabilitation at Christus St. Vincent. After I retired, I still felt the need to care for people with injuries, illnesses, disabilities or other special needs — even if it was just simple things like grocery shopping, taking them to a doctor’s appointment, making them a meal, or just sitting and listening to their stories. A co-worker told me about Coming Home Connection, so I contacted them and went to one of the introductory classes. I liked their vision involving giving a hand to those in need, and their mission to provide free in-home care and personal support for the most vulnerable population in Santa Fe. As I listened to the staff, I felt they were very compassionate, personal and professional, and the women and men in the class cared just as much about helping people as I did. I wanted to be part of this amazing group!
That was about five years and seven clients ago. It has been very rewarding to know I make a difference in the world through working with Coming Home Connection.
