If there’s one quality that stands out among all the good characteristics in Felicia Love, it’s her ability to put herself in someone’s shoes and really understand what they’re going through. Even if that means she works all day for someone who never knows she’s been there

It’s hard to imagine a caregiver could care for a client without them knowing, but Felicia found a way to do just that for a family who wanted to make sure their mother was looked after during the day. The mother, who was suffering from early effects of dementia, stubbornly insisted she was fine living on her own. So Felicia worked out a daily routine that is probably different from any other case in the history of Piedmont Home Care.

Felicia’s day started in the morning, when she would go to the house and peek in the window to make sure her client was in bed. Then she would sneak in the back door to the kitchen, where she cooked breakfast. “My client had a German Shepherd who would hear me come in and he’d come in the kitchen to check things out,” Felicia said. “I had to give him bacon to keep him quiet!”

As the client smelled breakfast, she would come into the kitchen to eat, believing it was her daughter who had come to cook. While she ate, Felicia would go around through the front door to make the bed and set out clothes. Throughout the day, Felicia stayed in a different room from her client, but she was always doing her job of checking on her, making sure she had healthy food, and keeping her from being a danger to herself. “That job was definitely unconventional, but I knew I was doing what the family wanted, and I had fun the whole time,” Felicia says.

Over tine the client’s dementia progressed, and Felicia was able to care for her in person. One thing she learned from that experience was just how important it is to help people with Alzheimer’s and dementia maintain their dignity in the face of such a challenging disease. “I know how I would want to be treated if I were in that position,” Felicia says. “I see my role as helping guide them, showing them where to go or making sure they don’t do certain things, rather than doing everything for them.”

Felicia first came to Piedmont Home Care more than 20 years ago, looking for a place to work that would allow her to provide the compassion and care for clients that she felt called to do. “Here they understand that our work is so much more than just checking blood pressure and making breakfast for a client,” Felicia says. “They understand the one-on-one time is important, talking to clients and loving them.” Over the years she has had the opportunity to work with many different people, and each one of them has a special place in her heart. “I feel I have more friends in heaven than I have here on Earth,” she says.

Felicia’s love of others and her strong commitment to personal relationships starts at home. When she’s not at work she loves spending time with her husband Jeff and their four grandchildren.

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