Jenascia Hamilton is a senior at Brandeis University, majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Health Policy. Her main career goal is to become a midwife, driven by a deep commitment to women's health and reproductive care, particularly for women of color. Outside of her studies, she is passionate about fitness and literature, and runs a Pole Dance and Fitness Club at her university where she teaches students pole fitness and serves as the club's treasurer.
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Jenascia came to CareYaya because she wanted to help take care of the elderly. She is candid about what drew her to the work: our society, she says, does not do enough to ease the burden of caring for older adults, and she finds deep satisfaction in making that burden lighter, not just for the people she cares for, but for the family members who rely on her too. Knowing how much her presence means to the adult children caring for their elderly parents, she says, is a feeling she keeps coming back to.
Over six to twelve months, she cared for an elderly woman in her late 70s living with limited mobility and early-stage dementia. She helped with meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and transportation to appointments. But a significant part of the role, she says, was simply being present, listening to her stories, making sure she felt supported and safe, and reducing the isolation that so often accompanies aging.
One afternoon, the woman did not recognize her. Then, after they sat together and looked through old photo albums, something shifted. The woman lit up and called her her "favorite visitor." Jenascia describes that moment as both heartbreaking and touching. It showed her, in a way nothing else could, how much a small moment of connection can mean.
Caregiving sharpened her in ways she did not anticipate. She grew more patient, more empathetic, and more attentive as a communicator. It also deepened her respect for the emotional and physical challenges older adults face, and strengthened her commitment to working in health-related fields that serve vulnerable populations.
Her advice to anyone considering this work is direct: pay attention to everything. You can learn an enormous amount about a person simply by observing how they behave and communicate. The small things, a slight change in movement, a shift in mood, an offhand remark, are often the things that a person's primary caregivers never get to see. Notice them, she says. Write them down if you have to. Because what seems minor in the moment, she has come to believe, can be life-saving in the end.