For as long as she can remember, Home Instead® Care Professional of the Month Janice Callahan has been drawn to seniors. Two memorable seniors who lived near Janice’s childhood home in Independence, Missouri, were retired U.S. President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess.
“I have four brothers, and we would walk past President Truman’s house from time to time. Bess Truman waved to us once as we ran home. When I was 8 or 9, I encountered President Truman at the mall, and of course the Secret Service was there. When I went to say hi, a Secret Service agent stopped me, but the president waved him off and graciously spoke briefly to me. I think he had recognized me from the neighborhood. He was a very personable man,” Janice recalled.
That’s one of Janice’s eye-opening stories, but she is far more interested in listening to seniors’ stories than telling hers. “I have always wanted to know about them and their histories. That is true with my Home Instead clients, too. I still have their stories in my heart, even from my former clients in Austin, Texas, when I worked for Home Instead there,” said Janice, who joined Home Instead of Collin County in Plano, Texas, on April 27, 2023. She was selected as Collin County’s Care Pro of the Month in July 2025 at the award-winning franchise owned by Chase and Taylor Crenwelge.
Janice previously worked for the two Austin-area Home Instead franchises from March 11, 2011, to March 30, 2014. Then Janice’s mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, came to live with Janice in Elgin, Texas, about 25 miles east of Austin. “When I worked for Home Instead in Austin, I worked mostly with Alzheimer’s clients. I would take the Alzheimer’s clients who were too hard for other Care Pros to handle. At night, I would pray to God about my client situation, and He would give me an answer for creating friendly diversions for the clients,” Janice said.
After joining Home Instead of Collin County, Janice was matched with a client who could trade Truman-era stories with her. “My client also was from the Kansas City area. She grew up not too far from where I did. We have a lot in common,” Janice said. “Margaret Truman, President Truman’s daughter, was one of my client’s heroes.”
While a historic perspective has been important to Janice, an even bigger aspect of her life has been her faith. “For me, there is a spiritual nature to senior care. If I am right with God, His Spirit is with me as I serve seniors. If I feel tension, I pray for peace. Almost every time I pull up to a client’s home, I pray, ‘Please, God, let me be Your hands and feet today with this client.’ That really helps. The prayers and my work with the clients remind me of who I am and my purpose,” Janice said.
“Care Pros cannot proselytize clients, so there is understandably a line we can’t cross with spiritual beliefs. If the clients ask me to read Bible verses, pray with them or take them to church services, I gladly will do it. That supports their spiritual beliefs. Clients have asked me to pray for them, especially those who are in pain. I’ve also silently prayed next to clients who have been bedfast. I pray that God will be present.”
She added: “I did take a client to church on Saturday nights. In fact, that was the whole reason I was there. It was both a great Care Pro-client match and yet a difficult challenge for other reasons. I learned a lot from her, and I learned a lot about myself.”
Many Home Instead stories abound for Janice.
“With one client,” Janice said, “there was a plumbing problem that forced her to live in a hotel from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I went to the hotel to be with her. We made the best of it and had so much fun. She had just a small microwave in her room, so our meal preparation options were somewhat limited. I once made cranberry sauce. It was worth the effort.”
Then there was an Austin-area ice storm. “The 30-mile trip to my client’s home in the Round Rock area was slow and dangerous. It took over an hour to get there on the icy roads. It was a learning experience, and you grow from those. I want to have a positive attitude. If I find myself with a negative attitude, I work to change it before I see the client,” she said.
Janice’s current client is 92, and she’s originally from Memphis, Tennessee, home to rock star Elvis Presley, and famous TV gameshow host Wink Martindale, who was a radio disc jockey before moving to the West Coast. “My client had met Presley and Martindale. She was not that impressed with Elvis. She was friends with Wink’s girlfriend, so she knew Wink and said he was a nice guy,” Janice said.
Janice added: “When I lived in Fort Worth, the worship leader at our church quit his job so he and his wife bought a Home Instead franchise. He was a reference for me when I applied at Home Instead the first time in Austin. I’ll never forget Gary and Angela Freeman. From where I started in Austin to my present position, my motto has been: ‘If I can give someone a little time at home before they have to move to a care community or pass away, I feel I’ve done my job.’ ”
All Home Instead Care Professionals are screened, trained and insured. For inquiries about employment, please call (972) 744-9898 or apply online. For further information about Home Instead, visit our website at homeinstead.com/413
