Visiting Angels Spreads Its Compassionate Wings Of Care In New Tampa

(L.-r.) Client care coordinator Lea O’Gara, CNA Samira El Maanaoui, director Christal Becton, office assistant Yesenia Diaz and billing assistant Kimberly Fair of the Visiting Angels office in Temple Terrace help clients get the care and help they need at home. (Photo by Charmaine George)

When Christal Becton faced the challenge of finding a caregiver for her elderly aunt in a different state, she realized she wasn’t alone in this struggle. Balancing her location in Florida with her aunt’s residence in South Carolina made it nearly impossible for Christal to provide her aunt’s care by traveling back and forth.

“As difficult as it was for me to try to find services for my aunt,” Christal says, “I determined that there’s got to be a better solution. I did some homework and researched and loved the name Visiting Angels. There was a perfect marriage right there. It all stemmed from needing in-home support for my elderly aunt. I’d always worked in nursing home environments with seniors, so it was a perfect fit for me.”

With a Master of Arts degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, and drawing from her expertise in rehab therapy and her role as Chief of Recreation Therapy in a nursing home, Christal recognized the potential alignment between her experience and the nationally renowned Visiting Angels. With more than 700 locations both in the U.S. and internationally, Visiting Angels seemed tailor-made to capitalize on her wealth of knowledge.

Back in 2004, Christal established her own branch of Visiting Angels on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, which conveniently serves New Tampa and neighboring areas of Hillsborough County. She says the primary objective is to offer an alternative to nursing homes, retirement centers and assisted living facilities, enabling elderly parents or disabled individuals to maintain their independence within their familiar home environments. The approach is highly personalized, matching each client with an independent caregiver based on a thorough assessment process. This ensures the individual is perfectly matched with the right independent professional caregiver. 

“We talk to the senior, ask their preferences, what type of person they are looking for, and we do a self-assessment as well,” Christal says. “We note if they are bubbly or quiet and don’t want a person who talks a lot. We collect a lot of information regarding the client from the assessment. Once we gather the information, we have a care plan meeting about who will be best suited and who has the skill set for the type of care they need. If someone is bedridden or in hospice, we’d need a skill set more in hospice, so we will call those contractors with that particular skill set, find out if they’re available during those times, and match them up. The caregiver will then call the client to introduce themselves and talk to the client, as well.”

Visiting Angels, licensed and bonded in Florida, is known for its flexibility. The company provides assistance ranging from a few hours per week to around-the-clock care seven days a week. Governed by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), the caregivers, a mix of Certified Nursing Assistants and certified Home Health Aides (HHAs), undergo a rigorous “Level Two” background screening that covers the entire country and have completed specific courses and certificates. 

To stay current in their field, the owners of Visiting Angels franchises, including Christal, actively participate in conferences, seminars, Florida meetings and virtual gatherings on Zoom to share best practices and stay abreast of industry trends. Christal also is a member of the Private Care Association, which offers insights for in-home care agencies, ensuring that their individual vetting processes adhere to state regulations.

“We do the vetting in accordance with what AHCA is requiring,” she says. “Our caregivers have to meet the state requirements, as well as ours.”

Care services provided by Visiting Angels encompass a broad spectrum, including home care, companionship, personal care and respite care. This range accommodates various needs, from temporary post-illness or surgery recovery support to ongoing companionship for lonely seniors. Caregivers cater to individual requirements, including providing transportation and companionship for medical appointments, running errands, grocery shopping, meal preparation, personal care, and light housekeeping. While some clients just need help to get their day started, some require assistance with shaving or bathing, and others may need their clothing washed and linens changed.

Over time, the relationship between the caregivers and their clients evolves into a deep friendship, making caregivers an integral part of their patients’ daily lives. The team at the local Visiting Angels office includes bilingual and sign language speakers, and Christal says she consistently signs experienced caregivers to her registry.

She recalls a heartbreaking incident during the early days of the pandemic. An elderly client struggled to access food due to lockdown restrictions and a family illness. Christal swiftly responded by personally purchasing groceries and essentials to ensure her client’s well-being. She was proud to turn this sad tale into a happy ending.

“During Covid, I got a call from a client that we only serviced a few hours a week,” Christal recalls. “She said she couldn’t get out, that her son was ill, she was elderly and couldn’t get groceries. She had nothing to eat. My heart just dropped. She was in tears with me on the phone, discussing with me her current situation. I dropped everything on my agenda, headed to the nearest grocery store, and purchased groceries and essentials (for her).”

Christal bought the client’s favorite meals and pre-cooked foods to make food preparation easier for her client. She arrived with two boxes overflowing with food and essentials like toilet paper. Christal says the client broke down in tears; she was so grateful for the compassion she received.

“That is a success story like none other,” Christal says, “to be able to respond to the community’s needs immediately.”

She even introduced “No Contact Fridays” during the pandemic, where food was delivered to the community without direct contact long before the advent of Instacart. This service proved invaluable to those in need during those challenging times.

“It takes a special type of person to be a caregiver,” she says.

The dedication required to be a Visiting Angels caregiver is indeed exceptional. Christal’s location stands ready to provide care at any time, whether it’s daytime, nighttime, weekends, or holidays. In a world where care often becomes a transaction, Visiting Angels’ story is one of heartfelt connections, empathy and a genuine commitment to improving lives. Becton’s legacy continues to weave a tapestry of care, understanding, and comfort for families in New Tampa and beyond.

The Visiting Angels office serving New Tampa is located at 9812 N. 56th St. For more information, call (813) 929-7067, visit VisitingAngels.com/Tampa, search “VisitingAngelsTampaFL” on Facebook. Independent caregivers with CNA or HHA licenses are invited join the team.

Visiting Angels Serves Families & The Community With Compassion

The local office of Visiting Angels on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace includes (l.-r.) office assistant Yesenia Diaz, director Christal Becton, client coordinators Wendy Blackmon and Kim Robinson and billing specialist Kim Fair. (Photo: Charmaine George)

When families realize they need a helping hand with an aging parent or grandparent or a disabled family member, they want to turn to someone they can trust to provide care and share their burden.

In New Tampa, Temple Terrace and surrounding areas, that need is being met by Visiting Angels, located on N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace, only minutes from most of New Tampa.

Visiting Angels provides services as an alternative to moving into a nursing home, retirement center or assisted living facility, allowing people to maintain the independence of their daily routines in the comfort of their own homes.

A nationally branded company, headquartered in Pennsylvania, Visiting Angels has 600 locations across the U.S.

Franchise owner and director Christal Becton opened the local office of Visiting Angels in 2004. 

“We’ve been a staple in the community for 17 years now,” she says, adding that the close-knit group of five people who work in the office give personal attention and care to every family who reaches out to them when they need assistance.

“Most of our referrals are seniors who need some extra help,” Christal explains. “We also can help anyone over 18 who needs assistance. Younger people sometimes need help, too, due to their own physical challenges or health issues.”

Visiting Angels caregivers provide home care services, companion care, personal care and respite care. This can include anything from helping someone temporarily recover from an illness or surgery to providing ongoing companionship to a senior who just needs a friend.

The Visiting Angels home health care aides accommodate their clients’ schedules, whether they need a few hours of assistance a week or even 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week care. Day or night, weekends or holidays, temporary or long-term, Visiting Angels can help.

Director Christal Becton

Caregivers include both Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and Home Health Assistants (HHAs). All caregivers have passed a background screening, and most are graduates of medical academies that specialize in home care and also have worked at assisted living facilities or in other health care environments.

Typical care might include grocery shopping and running errands, preparing meals, assisting with personal care and doing light housekeeping.

Christal says some clients require help with bathing or shaving, some just need a hand getting up in the morning and starting their day, while others may need their clothes laundered and linens changed.

Pandemic Assistance & More

With the coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, these continue to be unprecedented times. Over the past 18 months, Christal and the members of her office staff delivered essentials to seniors in New Tampa, even if they weren’t clients. They called it “no-contact Saturday,” delivering essentials without contact, to minimize any possibility of spreading the virus to someone who might be particularly vulnerable.

While the local Visiting Angels office is no longer doing no-contact Saturdays, calls from clients who are in need of food, meals, or shopping are still being accepted. The Visiting Angels often provide those services, but also are happy to refer families to services that may help them with these tasks, such as Instacart.

“We give a lot of advice to members of the community,” she says.

The office staff currently is getting ready for the annual Thanksgiving distribution, where staffers take meals from local restaurants and deliver them to everyone on the company’s registry who lives alone or has no family expected to join them for the holiday.

Getting Started

The first step to hiring Visiting Angels is a free, in-home assessment, which Christal personally handles. “I like to make a connection with the family. I get to see how they live and learn about their backgrounds, which makes it easier to connect them with the right caregiver.”

She says this is important to communicate to the family that she takes pride in her company and in the quality of care that will be provided.

“Most everyone has heard of Visiting Angels if they watch television, but people are often blown away that the owner of the company showed up in their home. They think that if the owner comes to my house to talk with me, then that’s a company I want to take care of my mom.”

During the in-home assessment, Christal reviews each client’s needs and asks about the types of services desired, noting the patient’s daily routine, meals, proximity to doctors’ offices and number of regularly scheduled appointments. She then prepares a care plan and selects the caregivers who are best suited to meet those needs.

Transportation To Appointments

In addition to in-home care, Visiting Angels provides transportation to doctor’s appointments and medical treatments.

Unlike other services, Visiting Angels caregivers do not leave the appointment, but will wait on-site until the appointment is concluded. Once the patient is delivered safely home, post-op care can be provided, as well, if desired.

Christal says this service is not typical, and that it relieves any stress someone may feel, wondering if a ride is coming to get them and how long they’ll have to wait. Having the Visiting Angels transportation waiting for them means patients don’t have to wait or wonder, or experience any undue anxiety about how to get to their medical appointment(s).

Visiting Angels’ transportation is not just for seniors. While seniors often take advantage of the services, anyone can use it.

Christal says many of the rides she gives are to and from plastic surgery appointments, anything from cosmetic facial surgeries, to tummy tucks and liposuction.

“Our office works very closely with a number of plastic surgery centers in the Tampa Bay area,” she says. “The patients or even the surgery centers call us to schedule and they tell me Visiting Angels is one of the few providing this service.”

Christal says many people don’t want to ask a friend or family member for a hand, especially when it comes to a plastic surgery appointment. She and her team are happy to help anyone who would prefer the discretion of using Visiting Angels if any post-appointment care or transportation is needed.

The Visiting Angels office serving New Tampa is at 9812 N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace. For more information, call (813) 929-7067 or visit VisitingAngels.com/Tampa or Facebook.com/VisitingAngelsTampaFL.

Visiting Angels Brings Care To Your Loved Ones In Their Own Homes

(L.–r.) Visiting Angels office assistant Jeannine Konrad, office manager Wendy Blackmon & owner Christal Becton will make sure your loved ones get the best care possible when they need to be cared for at home.
(L.–r.) Visiting Angels office assistant Jeannine Konrad, office manager Wendy Blackmon & owner Christal Becton will make sure your loved ones get the best care possible when they need to be cared for at home.

Christal Becton opened Visiting Angels to serve New Tampa and other parts of Hillsborough County in 2004. As the franchise owner and director, she says she feels blessed to be in the business of helping senior citizens and their families.

Visiting Angels provides home care services as an alternative to moving into a nursing home, retirement center or assisted living facility, allowing seniors and others in need to maintain the independence of their daily routines in the comfort of their own homes. It is a nationally branded company, headquartered in Pennsylvania, with 500 locations across the U.S.

“When my 84-year-old aunt, who lived in Columbia, SC, needed assistance, I had to hire a caregiver for her because I was unable to keep traveling back and forth to care for her,” Christal explains. “I believe that’s what started me on the road to in-home care. After my husband retired from the military, and I was ready to get out of my job in corporate America, I began looking into franchises. That’s when I found Visiting Angels.”

Christal opened the Visiting Angels office on N. 56th St. (south of Fowler Ave.) in Temple Terrace, minutes from most of New Tampa.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix campus in Albuquerque, NM. She also has a wealth of previous nursing home experience, having served as Chief of Recreation Therapy at a nursing home in Albuquerque.

While the business has grown over the past 12 years, Christal says that what hasn’t changed is her passion for helping people and for matching clients with caregivers to give them the help they need in their homes.

“I enjoy working with seniors in need,” says Christal. “So, this is the perfect profession for me.”

She says every aspect of running Visiting Angels is rewarding. “The challenges are learning experiences and never a burden. We really have very few issues.”

Services

“Most of our clients are seniors who need some extra help,” Christal explains. “We also can help anyone over 18 who needs assistance. Younger people sometimes need help, too, due to their own physical challenges or health issues.”

Available services include everything from helping someone temporarily recover from an illness or surgery to providing ongoing companionship to a senior who just needs a friend.

“We also go grocery shopping and run errands, prepare meals, assist with personal care and do light housekeeping,” Christal adds. She says some clients require help with bathing or shaving, some just need a hand getting up in the morning and starting their day, while others may need clothes laundered and linens changed.

One difficulty common for many seniors, especially those who don’t drive or have a relative nearby, is arranging transportation to their doctors’ appointments. Visiting Angels’ staff will transport clients to and from their appointments, and always remain on site throughout their clients’ visits.

“We provide the vehicle,” Christal says, adding that the service is a relief to relatives who find it difficult to take time off from work to drive their loved ones to their medical appointments.

Visiting Angels accommodates its clients’ schedules, whether they need a few hours of assistance a week or even 24-hour-per-day, 7-day-per-week care. Day or night, weekends or holidays, temporary or long-term, Visiting Angels can help.

Care Providers

Visiting Angels’ healthcare providers include about 50 Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and Home Health Assistants (HHAs). Christal says that her company serves about 40-60 clients in New Tampa, Temple Terrace and other surrounding areas.

She adds that the company runs a comprehensive background screening on all caregivers. Christal says she is very selective about who she chooses to help her clients. Many are graduates of medical academies that specialize in home care and/or have worked at assisted living facilities or in other health care environments. Christal says Visiting Angels caregivers choose to specialize in home care because they enjoy the personal interaction with only one or two clients.

“One of my CNAs has been with the same client since 2004,” she says. “In hiring, I make sure my staff has a passion for doing what they do, and that they have a strong employment history in caring for seniors.”

Christal also interacts with each new family who calls Visiting Angels and requests a free, in-home assessment.

“I personally do each new client assessment myself,” she says. “I like to make a connection with the family. I get to see how they live and learn about their background, which makes it easier to connect them with the right caregiver.”

During the in-home assessment, she reviews each client’s needs and asks about the types of services desired, noting the patient’s daily routine, meals, proximity to doctors’ offices and number of regularly scheduled appointments. She then prepares a care plan and selects the caregivers who are best suited to meet your needs.

After personally meeting all of the available caregivers, you get to choose the candidate you prefer.

“One of the things that sets Visiting Angels apart from other home care services is that our clients get to choose their caregivers,” Christal explains. “People don’t just show up and say, ‘I’m here to take care of you.’ Our clients actually meet the caregivers beforehand, so they already feel comfortable with the person who will be caring for them.”

These caregivers become an important part of each patient’s routines, and often, families let Christal know the significance of the care their loved one received in their time of need.

“Thank you for the wonderful care you provided,” said a grateful family in a letter to Visiting Angels. “You were more than a caregiver to us, you quickly became a friend… [Mom] so appreciated your presence and friendship, as we all did… It was always a relief to us to know that when we needed you, we had no worries at all about Mom being taken good care of.”

Christal says that technology also allows her to keep in close contact with the families of her clients — whether they are out of town or busy working, a quick text or email keeps Christal, the caregiver and the family all on the same page regarding a patient’s care.

In addition, technology allows Visiting Angels to provide information to the community, even those who aren’t her clients.

Christal sends out a newsletter and also provides information on the company’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/VisitingAngelsTampaFL, informing people about dementia, caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, fall prevention and other issues that affect seniors.

“The greatest change I’ve seen as a business is our ability to communicate with the community and use technology effectively to reach out to the community and be a resource,” she says.

Visiting Angels is located at 9812 N. 56th St. in Temple Terrace. And, for a special offer just for readers who mention the Neighborhood News, call Christal at 929-7067.

Visiting Angels Is New Tampa’s First Choice In Home Care

Visiting Angels caregivers can help your loved one with everything from bathing to helping them with daily household tasks to going for a walk.
Visiting Angels caregivers can help your loved one with everything from bathing to helping them with daily household tasks to going for a walk.

Perhaps you’ve seen one of Visiting Angels’ upbeat TV commercials. If you have elderly parents or an aging loved one, you probably have paid attention to the ads. The savvy spots, featuring the catchy motto, “Visiting Angels, America’s Choice in Home Care,” portray smiling caregivers visiting the homes of contented senior citizens, assisting them with a variety of tasks. The ad’s message rings clear: “There’s no place like home.”Continue reading