After Combating The Coronavirus, Home Health Aide Helps Seniors

CLEARWATER, FL — A Clearwater senior citizen is being honored by her employer for stepping up to help fellow seniors weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Seniors Helping Seniors, an in-home care services franchise helps seniors maintain their independence while brightening their lives by pairing them with fellow seniors who are carefully matched to their specific needs, personality and preferences. In this way, not only do Seniors Helping Seniors clients have the opportunity to age in place with dignity, but they receive compassionate and empathetic care.

One of those providing care during this turbulent year is Rhonda Nevers, a home health aide in Clearwater.

“Right from the start, we knew we had someone special,” said franchise owner Andy Malivuk.
“Rhonda’s caring heart and determination didn’t just impress us, it inspired us.”

Nevers joined Malivuk’s team in Clearwater in April. Right away, she stood out as reliable, adaptable and mission-oriented, Malivuk said.

However, a few months later, Nevers contracted the coronavirus and stepped away from her work with Seniors Helping Seniors to recover.

It wasn’t clear what she would want to do when or if she returned, but she did come back and
took on many complex, short-term and urgent need cases.
When wife-and-husband duo Kiran and Philip Yocom founded Seniors Helping Seniors in 1998, they did so with the mission to do good first — then make money. This year, during the brand’s 22nd year, seniors have battled health challenges, loneliness and depression rates at an all-time high as the coronavirus continues, making employees like Nevers more essential than ever.

“When I worked alongside Mother Teresa, it was always about the greater good of humans. It
was always about the bigger picture of life,” Kiran Yocom said. “I live by the mission of treating
all people with dignity and respect, and always thinking about the greater purpose of life.”

Kiran, who grew up in India, worked to advance humanitarian efforts alongside Mother Teresa. After moving to the U.S. in 1995 and marrying her husband Philip, the Yocoms felt called to provide loving care to seniors.

Seniors Helping Seniors provides a variety of services to support seniors so that they are able
to maintain their independence and enjoy life, not just in their homes, but also in their
neighborhoods. These services include companionship, light housekeeping, cooking and shopping support, assistance with personal care, dementia care, pet care, light handyman services and small repairs, yard work and medication reminders.

“The concept of helping people in need never sleeps. We are there no matter how hard the
world is being hit by a pandemic or how much our country is in crisis,” said Namrata Yocom-
Jan, executive vice president of Seniors Helping Seniors.

Seniors Helping Seniors has grown to nearly 200 locations in 30-plus states and seven international locations, with 110 franchise partners.