Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Ramonda “Mona” Tezeno often says her clients are “just like family.” It’s no surprise Mona comes from a tight-knit, multi-generational family whose members took the lead in caring for its senior loved ones. “We are very family-oriented and have great relationships. Our family, all ages, hang together and love each other,” Mona said.
“I served as a family caregiver for my paternal grandparents when they were hospitalized. I sat with them to provide companionship when I was a high school freshman,” recalled Mona, who joined Home Instead of south-central Houston on Feb. 25, 2025, and was honored five months later as the award-winning franchise’s Care Pro of the Month.
“Family caregiving was more of a time-honored responsibility than a lightly considered option when I was growing up. My parents took care of my grandparents, and we visited my grandparents a lot. I think I knew just about every senior loved one in the family even if we didn’t provide direct care. I even knew my great-grandmother, who lived to 101. My parents modeled what senior care looked like and how you treated your elders.”
There is a faith-based aspect to her family’s closeness, Mona explained. “My father was a church minister. He had many visitations with people who were infirm, and needed prayer and cheering up. To this day, all my relatives attend the same church,” she recalled. “In addition, my mother was a private-duty caregiver for the elderly and was a great cook. She loved taking care of people, and she was a very good mother. I have followed in my parents’ footsteps.”
With one of her regular clients, Mona feels a kind of kinship because Mona grew up in roughly the same area where the 77-year-old client lives. They also both share Christian beliefs, “a like precious faith.” Mona said: “We hit it off in about the first 15 seconds after we met. He lives in my old neighborhood, literally 5 or 10 minutes from where I was raised. He says he is ‘an old country boy,’ and I have about the same background. We have a lot in common.”
The client, who is helped also by another Care Pro, is rebounding from the effects of a stroke. “He is doing well. He has a walker but does not use it unless he goes outside the home. We do our primary walking in the neighborhood and at the grocery store. We also do exercises,” Mona said. “He is a self-motivated person with a strong will who pushes himself. In the midst of his challenges, he has been strong and has come a long way. He has strengthened his right side.”
Perhaps one of her client’s biggest challenges is working through his grief after having lost his wife. “He talked about her often. It was devastating for him. He was in a different state of mind. He didn’t know what to do. He has accepted the idea that life goes on. He doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him,” Mona said. “His children found Home Instead to help him. He has bounced back from his stroke and gets better every day, physically and emotionally. He starts off each day with an inspiration from the Bible. While he lives alone and does not drive, he gets out with family and friends. I am grateful that our backgrounds are so similar. That has been a blessing.”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (713) 774-2215 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website.
