Porchlight’s Elaine Keane Named Tender Tributes Caregiver of the Year
LEE — Representatives of Porchlight VNA/Home Care and Kindred Laurel Lake recently announced the recipient and nominees of the second annual Tender Tributes awards presentation.
The awards celebrate frontline caregivers in the Greater Berkshire region. Fifteen caregivers, serving Berkshire home-care agencies, skilled-nursing facilities, and assisted-living communities, were selected by their peers, clients, and administrators for their exceptional work and dedication.
The Tender Tributes Caregiver of the Year Award was presented to Elaine Keane, CHA/HHA, of Porchlight Home Care, who has worked as a home health aide for more than 30 years. Attending the ceremony was Barbara Wisionowski, the daughter of one of Keane’s longtime clients, the late Joseph Piechowski. Wisionowski credited Keane for improving her father’s quality of life in the 16 years she cared for him. Piechowski passed away in April in his own home at the age of 107.
Tender Tributes is an important way to recognize individuals who provide essential services to elderly people and others with physical and/or cognitive limitations, said Porchlight VNA/Home Care CEO Holly Chaffee. “We hope to take any opportunity we can to celebrate their incredible work, and to hear the remarkable stories of how they continue to positively impact the lives of so many in our community. I congratulate all of those who earned a Tender Tribute certificate and all of those who have chosen this admirable profession.”
Other recipients of 2015 Tender Tribute awards include Jamie Nolli, At Home with Berkshire Place; Louis Lingebach, At Home with Berkshire Place; Edith Messina, Amedysis Home Health; Joan Lane, Porchlight VNA; Susan Stillman, Cameron House Assisted Living; Tony Monterosso, Home Care for Seniors of Massachusetts; Leroy Strattman, Kindred Laurel Lake Assisted Living; Katrina Burt, Porchlight Home Care; Lisa Berry, Springside Rehabilitation & Nursing Care Center; Jamie Hunt, Kindred Laurel Lake Skilled Nursing Center; Innocent Idah, Craneville Place of Dalton Rehabilitation & Nursing Center; Carol Sunn, Sweet Brook Rehabilitation & Nursing Center; Dawn Hazzard, Timberlyn Heights Rehabilitation & Care Center; and Monica Pacheco, Mount Carmel Care Center.