Laura Dillard
At alto, we believe connection is at the heart of good care.
We sat down with Laura Dillard, one of the caregivers on alto, to learn more about her caring nature, her precious moments with clients, and how she avoids burnout.
Laura Dillard, a caregiver on alto. Photo by Josh Campillos, alto.
For alto caregiver Laura, caring has always been in her genes. From a young age, she was caring for everyone she came in contact with - foster siblings, neighborhood kids, pets, and eventually, children of her own.
“It was just born in me… I grew up on 80 acres, animals everywhere, foster siblings, I was the area babysitter.
“Everyone knew they could count on me.”
While she loves her work as a caregiver, Laura’s also worked as a nanny, a dog walker, and most recently, a school bus driver. When she told her family and friends about driving the school bus, the reaction was unanimous: this makes perfect sense. Her friendly, caring nature is a perfect fit.
Laura loves forming connections with people of all ages, and the flexibility that alto provides allows her to balance multiple jobs. Her clients appreciate her flexibility too. “My one client and I, we’ll sit with her calendar and figure out times that work. We each have different appointments throughout the week so we figure out what works.
“It’s nice to work together and just communicate.”
She contrasts this with her experience working for home care agencies, where both her and her clients were required to abide by complex, and at times, unnecessarily strict, policies. With alto, she’s able to work directly with her clients to find times that work. One time, for a client’s birthday, she brought over homemade nanaimo bars. “Little things like that are things I was never able to do before.”
“I feel like I have more of a voice.”
We spent some time talking with Laura about one client in particular. She told us about some of her fondest memories with him, and how he’d talk to her about everything from the war to the specific way he made his oatmeal (hint: lots of brown sugar). His family was actually so happy with her, they asked her to care for another family member of theirs.
Due to time constraints, she wasn’t able to, but when we told Laura that client was able to find another caregiver on alto, her face lit up as you could see the relief wash over her. If you spend any time with Laura, you’ll experience moments like this, where it’s undeniably clear the care and respect she has for others. To put it simply, these moments are inspiring.
Saying no to clients is something Laura has struggled with, but she’s grown to understand the importance if she wants to provide the high quality care she knows she’s capable of, and that she knows clients deserve. Just like family members who can get burnt out from caring for a loved one, caregivers can too. “I’m a people pleaser and I want to help everyone that I can, but I’m not as helpful to them if I’m burnt out, so i’m learning to say no when I need to.”
When we asked Laura if she had any advice to families thinking of trying alto, she opted to provide some encouragement instead.
“When my dad needed extra support, he struggled to admit it - I know contacting someone to provide care for a loved one can be a big step.”
“Just know there are so many loving, caring people that will do well taking care of your loved one. Book a one or two hour meet and greet and get to know them, see how they fit.”
For caregivers new to alto, she echoed something that stuck with her when she was first training to be a caregiver:
“Your priority is your clients dignity and independence.”
“Listen to your clients. It’s their life, their home, their everything. Listen to what they want you to do and do it to the best of your abilities. The whole reason people need [home care] is because they’re unable to do certain things anymore - that’s hard. The best thing you can do is open your ears and let them have a voice in their own life.”
Laura is currently open to new clients and encourages you to message her to see if she’d be a good fit for what you’re looking for. You can view her profile, including her availability, here.
