A Fiduciary Says Goodbye to Her Husband – Karen’s Story
Karen: [00:00:00] My name is Karen Fritts, and I’m a licensed professional fiduciary, which means that I am court-appointed for people who lack capacity, so I can become their conservator, or if there’s a trust, I work with the estates and, also, with veterans. So, I’ve been doing that for about 12 years. Prior to that, I was in human resources and during that transition—and the reason for the transition actually—my husband became very ill. And it was during that time that I met Machelle Thompson of Keen, and I believe it was right about the time that I had to transfer him from a facility, and I wanted him to be back home. And I’ll never forget Machelle putting my husband in a wheelchair, and she actually walked him from the facility to here. Machelle and I maintained a friendship, and as my business grew, I had a need for her services, sometimes in the capacity of home care. And later on, when she opened up the house in Rossmoor, I was able to place two clients there as well. Other agencies just simply place. But with Machelle, it was clearly more than that. She becomes part of the client’s life.
Karen: [00:01:31] And that makes my job much easier, obviously, because she follows up with me. I know that I can trust that I don’t have to go and try to find her to find out what’s happening. She’s just there and her caregivers are exceptional. When I had another client and she, too, was a little feisty, but I would walk in at any hour, and they were taking care of her. And I remember she had just finished a shower. She was in a wheelchair. And I remember them combing her long hair and she looked so nice. She had a pair of jeans on and a nice top and she just looked great. And it wasn’t something they had to do, you know, all they had to do is put clean clothes on her. But no, it was a match. It was a match. You know, who can ask for anything more than that? I can only say that I entrusted Machelle with my husband, and that was the hardest thing to do. And then I know that if that happened, I could feel comfortable putting anybody there.