MANY ATLANTANS WILL REMEMBER JOVITA MOORE, the award-winning journalist who anchored the WSB-TV Channel 2 newscast for nine years before receiving a life-altering medical diagnosis. After recovering from cystic fibrosis and surgery to remove multiple brain tumors, she learned she suffered from a rare form of brain cancer. The prognosis: terminal. The veteran newscaster would require intensive home healthcare in step with the progression of the illness. Careful research and sterling recommendations directed the family to Brenda’s Domestic Staffing.

Brenda’s Domestic Staffing serves prominent clients throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area and suburbs, but founder Brenda Stinson admits she felt honored when Moore chose her company. “I was amazed that of all the home healthcare providers available, they found me,” says Stinson. “I believe it was a neighbor of an Alzheimer’s patient I took care of for 10 years who referred the family to me. She told them I was one of the best in Atlanta. They had a few other providers lined up, but after interviewing me, they decided that I would be the one to take care of Jovita.”

Stinson provided at-home care for Moore personally, arriving in the evening and staying through the morning, five days a week, and brought on an additional aide to augment care throughout the day. “As time went on, the cancer affected her mentally; there were some things she’d forget how to do. I was there to support her in any and every way,” Stinson explains.

Stinson and Moore established a relationship of mutual respect. The two became very close. “My care for her involved sitting at her bedside at night to monitor her condition and ensure all her needs were met,” Stinson says. “One night she said, ‘Miss Brenda, you can get in the bed with me; you don’t have to sit up all night.’ And I said, ‘I’m not here to sleep; I’m here to take care of you.’ I thought that was so kind of her, being in that condition, to think about my comfort.”

Eventually, Moore lost her ability to communicate. Until that time, Stinson recalls lively chats and watching the WSB newscast together. The journalist’s career spanned over three decades, winning nine Emmy Awards along the way, including one for a news piece on cystic fibroids.

“I could see the diagnosis was taking a toll on her from the expression on her face,” notes Stinson. “She was only 54; she had an incredible career. She was a beautiful person inside and out, that was her personality, whether on TV or in person. It made me sad that she wasn’t going to live long.”

Moore was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer in April 2021. She died six months later in October. “Even though it was such a short time we were together, my staff and I still got attached to her,” notes Stinson. “We’re not supposed to—but that’s easier said than done.”

Brenda’s Domestic Staffing focuses on addressing all the needs of the client in their care—both physical and emotional—to enhance the client’s experience. Providing emotional support is a big part of what the team excels at, ensuring that in the absence of family, the client’s medical needs are met, and they’re receiving the companionship that promotes their well-being.

“I had a client whose daughter would come to visit once a week,” recalls Stinson. “She would go to Costco with the shopping list I’d provide. She had placed me in charge of the household. I hired and fired; she just left me in charge of everything. She rarely stayed long when she visited because she just couldn’t accept her mother’s condition. She’d break down and cry.”

Stinson’s client was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and had become nonverbal. Eventually she no longer recognized her daughter. Stinson considered it part of her role as a caregiver to provide emotional support for the client’s daughter. “She would confide in me: ‘I can’t talk to mother; I can’t tell her what’s going on in our lives. I can’t share any of those things with her anymore.’ I felt for them both. It was important for her to have someone to talk to, to listen, who understood what she was going through.”

Stinson’s concern for the well-being of the senior community is deeply rooted, finding expression first in a state position at Meals on Wheels in her hometown of Macon, Georgia. She delivered food daily to seniors for 12 years while gaining three years of caregiver experience working evenings at Justice Home Care.

“I love doing what I do, taking care of people in need of help,” notes Stinson, who has a degree in marketing and management from Crandall Junior College in Macon. “I enjoy it. It’s a rewarding vocation.”

Armed with experience in both healthcare and business administration, she relocated to Atlanta in 1996 and started accepting private clients while taking referrals from entities that included Northside Hospital, Sunrise Senior Living and Pruitt Health. As referrals grew, she expanded her as-needed staff and founded Brenda’s Domestic Staffing with a mission to enhance the quality of life for seniors through exceptional home care services and caregivers who treat loved ones like family.

“We are equipped to go wherever the family wants us to go,” explains Stinson. “A client may be undergoing treatment in the hospital, so we’ll care for them there. They may still be living at home, in assisted living or a nursing home. The family generally prefers that we go to them to provide our services and to monitor the facility to ensure the prescribed course of treatment is being faithfully administered.”

Whether providing care in-home or on-site, Stinson and her team of healthcare providers have the expertise to report observations about the client’s condition that family may not be able or available to do. Brenda’s Domestic Staffing services include accompanying clients to medical appointments and acting as advocates for them. “I provide the doctor with notes I’ve taken on the patient’s condition—changes that may need attention,” explains Stinson. “We pay attention to a client’s food consumption, signs that the client’s health may be deteriorating. And while I can’t predict exactly when they may pass, I can usually tell by observing the client that the end of life is near.”

Stinson presides over a staff of experienced and compassionate healthcare professionals that include Certified Nurse Assistants (CNA) and Personal Care Aids (PCA). They offer several levels of care, from medication management and wound care to memory care and hospice. The team is affiliated with every hospice organization in Atlanta. Specialized caregivers also provide support for Alzheimer’s, dementia and stroke patients. Each works within their area of expertise to create a personalized care plan that meets the needs of the client and family.

Brenda’s Domestic Staffing also offers a wide range of daily support services that include housekeeping, grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation, and transportation services to medical appointments, social events and errands. Caregivers are qualified to assist with personal services such as bathing, dressing and grooming in a manner that helps seniors maintain their independence and dignity.

Brenda’s Domestic Staffing is licensed by both the city of Atlanta and state of Georgia.

Vetting of its healthcare providers includes a CNA exam and a tuberculosis test, a background check and professional references.

Quality of life is a key tenet of the Brenda’s Domestic Staffing mission, and for many clients, simply getting out and into the world is priceless. “If a client is in a wheelchair, I’m qualified to transfer them to the car and load the wheelchair into the trunk,” says Stinson, all smiles. “We may go out for lunch or dinner, and then we go shopping.” *

Wendy Swat Snyder is a Charleston-based freelance writer (sweetgrassandgrits.com).