Barbara Colella, Gerontologist, Client Care Manager at Pacific Coast Home Care, Simi Valley, California

Barbara Colella grew up with a younger sister who had severe brain damage. Her sister couldn’t walk and could hardly talk; doctors said little about her possibilities for the future. So Colella took it upon herself to care for her, to visit her often when she was sent away to a care facility and to support her in any way that she could. In doing so, she realized that she had a personal duty to help others. 

Even as Colella worked to support her sister, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Through her mother’s in-home cancer treatments, she was exposed to homecare for the first time. Colella became, like so many others, an adult child taking care of her parent. She had become a mother herself and was stretched thin by the demands of caring for herself, her children and her mom. 

After her mother passed away, Colella returned to school to study geriatric psychology, intending to educate other adult children about the aging population. After gaining a master’s degree in gerontology, she began her work in homecare. Now, as a gerontologist and client care manager, she assists adult children, seniors and the aging population in care at home, assisted living facilities and post-acute skilled care units. 

In her daily work, Colella conducts, assesses and provides care plans to senior patients across the homecare spectrum. She devotes her time and efforts to creating care plans that benefit the patient and are comprehensive for both the patient and their family members. She prioritizes making a personal connection with clients and their family members, with a focus on supporting adult children who are caring for their parents. As an advocate and intermediary, she works to bridge the gap between hospital and in-home care for the benefit of patients, their families and their caregivers. 

“When I come in, I help everybody accept what’s happened and that that’s in the past,” Colella said. “I tell them, ‘Here we are today, in the present, and here are our options for the future.’ I help with facilitating feelings, so that feelings don’t become fallings or fallout. I make sure that if (the family) has a problem or needs an objective resource, I’m there in place to help them.” 

Throughout her work, she endeavors to create lasting positive impacts on the lives of her clients. 

“I call them little bigs: little things that make a big difference,” Colella said. “A little big might be taking the time to remember that, for example, Sarah likes yellow sunflowers, so when I stop and visit, I have those flowers with me. Those little things connect you to people and make a big difference. They show that I’m paying attention, listening to you and taking note of what’s important to you as an individual.” 

Colella works toward making in-home care a positive, mutually beneficial experience by educating and training caregivers and by pairing clients with caregivers who share their interests and personalities. 

She seeks to pass along her knowledge and experience to staff members. She says having a solid caregiving workforce can improve patient outcomes and help reduce caregiver burnout. 

“The care that we take in preparing the caregiver, it creates the win-win-win,” Colella said. “It’s like cooking; you can read a recipe before you cook, or you can just wing it. If you wing it, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes, because you might not have measured properly. But if you really read a recipe, you can nail it every time because you’ve prepared.”