About Visiting Angels

"Thank you again for all of your help and kindness. My mother and I could not have gotten through the last week without your assistance."

Our family gained first-hand experience with the challenges of home health care when we took on the care, housing and monitoring of two men who eventually moved from their homes to skilled nursing and hospice facilities.

During a three-year span earlier this decade, we volunteered to be the primary caregivers for an elderly family friend who suffered with cancer. He had also lost a leg to diabetes. He was hospitalized and later transferred to a hospice, where he eventually died.

Yet, it was another man - Uncle Bo - who was the strongest inspiration for us to open a Visiting Angels franchise in Detroit.

His given name was Oliver Kenyon. He was our father's older brother. Uncle Bo was a WW II vet who started his own delivery business after retiring from Ford Motor Company. Later - widowed and living alone - Uncle Bo suffered from congestive heart failure, gout, high blood pressure, and extreme edema. He was hospitalized, and later moved to an Assisted Living Facility (ALF).

Our family became involved with a range of guardianship tasks on behalf of Uncle Bo, including the disposal of his primary residence, vacation home and other property. We helped manage his finances, set up home care and visits by family members, and found health facilities (hospice and ALF) for him, among other issues. We talked extensively to social workers, doctors, lawyers, and representatives from social and governmental agencies, to list but a few.

Then, a few days before Christmas, 2002, Uncle Bo died at the age of 79.

If only we had known about Visiting Angels! It is apparent now that Visiting Angels caregivers could have met our patients' desire to remain in their homes; would have reduced the days away from our jobs; and greatly eased our family's stress.

On the other hand, the experiences with both men gave us the desire to offer this valuable service to families in similar situations. After exploring many options, the family agreed that a Visiting Angels franchise presented the best opportunity to serve others.

• Joyce K. Stallings, Director of Visiting Angels Detroit is responsible for the day-to-day management of the office. She has 30 years of progressively responsible positions providing administrative support to senior executives and a physician. She has experience as an administrative assistant, human resource assistant, as well as a background in medical billing, desktop publishing and quality assurance. As an Admin. Asst. in Human Resources and Officer Manager, she handled the responsibilities of employment, compensation, employee relations, benefits, training, developing and implementing policies and procedures, and safety.
• Janice Kenyon is our Director of Office Management. She is responsible for accounts payable, accounts receivables, and payroll. Janice retired in 2001 from Highland Park School District, (MI) with 32 years of service in accounts payable and student services.
• James Kenyon, Director of Marketing is a retiree of Chrysler Corporation where he worked 18 years in the Public Relations department. James has more than 30 years experience in journalism, public relations and marketing. He holds a B.A. degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

We are all life-long residents of the Detroit area.