ONLEY, Va. (WAVY) — The owner of an Eastern Shore home health care company is trying to find new ways to attract healthcare workers to an area that needs them most.
Given its remote geography, people living on the Eastern Shore have limited access to health care, which makes it especially difficult to get help, but one company called Love Thy Neighbor is trying to change that.
“They’re like your kids, so patience is the key and you have to be able to understand their needs,” said Tyquinta Ayers.
Ayers currently serves as a Personal Care Aide for three people on the Eastern Shore, including her dad.
Ayers has helped dozens of elderly and disabled clients. She helps fix them lunch, cleans up around the house and makes sure they have everything they need.
Ayers is one of about 300 home health care staff working for Love Thy Neighbor.
Love Thy Neighbor employs certified nursing assistants, nurses aides and personal care aides to help take care of clients in Hampton Roads and on the Eastern Shore. The majority of the staff trained on the Shore are family members, like Ayers, who started out by caring for loved ones.
“What I found out in this field, when you have a stranger coming to your home, they could be the best aide ever, but if that person does not feel comfortable with a stranger coming into a home, it doesn’t matter how well they perform, the client is not going to feel comfortable and is not going to be a great outcome,” said Love Thy Neighbor founder Michelle Tinner.
Tinner said she knows that feeling all too well. Her mom, Darlene, had a heart attack several years ago and now suffers from dementia. Tinner was in school at the time of the heart attack and had to stop working because her mom wasn’t comfortable with the aides coming in.
“That’s the reason I came up with the idea for Love Thy Neighbor,” Tinner said, “because I treat all my clients like family members and anybody, I don’t care what home care agency you go through, should be treated with dignity and respect, and you should choose who you want to come into your home to provide care for you.”
She said she would’ve been evicted if it weren’t for the help of her instructors.
“I had people who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself,” Tinner said. “I had instructors who told me that I can do it when I felt like I couldn’t do it.”
It’s another reason she wants to give back to those working to get started in the health care field.
Love Thy Neighbor provides the 40-hour training needed for PCAs to be able to take care of Medicaid recipients.
“We provide 40 hours of training through Medicaid guidelines, so it’s typically eight hours a day, five days a week, and then they have to take a test,” Tinner said. “And then once they take the test and pass it, then they become a personal care aide.”
Tinner said there is a big need on the Eastern Shore, and it’s a place close to her heart.
“With the aging population, a lot of people are staying at home, because with the insurance, they are not able to go to the hospital all the time, they are not able to go to a nursing home,” Tinner said, “so what we do is we provide them with services so they can stay in a home and be safe in the community for as long as possible.”
In addition to the services Love thy Neighbor provides, Tinner also opened her own shop called Pretty Girl Scrubs, which offers nursing equipment and scrubs of all sizes so staff won’t have to travel to get supplies.
“I know for me, personally, I can conquer the world when I have clothes that fit,” Tinner said. “It makes me feel great, and I can perform to the best of my abilities and I know my staff says the same thing.”
The business has scrubs ranging from XS to 5XL, and they come in a variety of colors and patterns.
“I put clothes in there that’s bright [and] vibrant because I’m a bright, vibrant person,” Tinner said.
Tinner also works to provide continuing education assistance so employees can afford to go back to school.
“I believe when God blesses you or puts you in a position to give back, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Tinner said, “so I will always do for Eastern Shore because the Eastern shore has always been so wonderful to me.”
But most of all, she said she’s working to create an environment where staff can love their neighbors and ultimately give back to their communities, too.
“They’re just so wonderful, I just love them,” Ayers said.
In addition to the services they provide, Love Thy Neighbor also works to do community events on the Eastern Shore.
“It’s a must that I give back to my community, so I do that not only with Love Thy Neighbor and Pretty Girl Scrubs,” Tinner said, “I [also] do that with the back-to-school events that I have every year. I do that with the free gas giveaway. I do something for Thanksgiving. I also do for my employees on different holidays to let them know, ‘hey, I appreciate you, because without you there would be no Love Thy Neighbor.'”
Tinner states that Love Thy Neighbor is always looking for help. To apply, stop by Tinner’s office in Chesapeake or Onley on the Eastern Shore, or visit their website for more information.