Celebrating 25 years of Granny’s Helping Hands

Eloise Jay-Jones said she was always a caregiver, even from her younger days when she was referred to as “Sister,” not Eloise, by friends and family. It was decades later while living in Yeadon she friended an older neighbor who was alone, and the frequent interactions with her brightened the neighbor up. She knew she fell in love with helping geriatrics.

With hundreds of home care businesses in the region, Granny’s Helping Hands has been a viable source for some tender loving care among our most delicate populations for 25 years. From its humble beginnings managed out of its Jay’s kitchen to its present offices in Lansdowne, Granny’s has become known as a prominent business to the public and private entities since 1992.

“Our main focus is to keep people in their homes, keep them independent and dignified,” said JayJones. “And to maintain the quality of life for the community, keeping these clients active in the community as much as possible and meeting the demands they have to maintain their place.”

Jay-Jones worked as Certified Nursing Aide (CNA) and as a staffing coordinator at an agency before she decided to open her own business. At the time, she wanted to pay more attention to the CNAs and their importance to the home care sector, not just view them as the “bottom of the totem pole” professionals compared to their colleagues.

“They’re spending more time with the consumers than anyone,” she noted. “I wanted to just make sure they had the respect and to treat them like they were a huge part of the team.”

Starting out of the kitchen of her Yeadon home with just three other aides to help her, she started Great Companions, the original name of Jay-Jones’ business before changing to its current name. Things just “magically started to happen” within the first year, JayJones was already employing more than the three aides she started with, was assisting a larger clientele and having good word-ofmouth to further launch her buisness.

Now she operates with clients throughout the entire Southeastern Pennsylvania region from Bucks to Chester County. At one point, she even had an aide travel with a family to Florida when the clientele moved down there.

Whether it is for one hour, or 24 hours a day, Granny’s CNAs spend a dedicated amount of time with their clients while providing the daily care they need. And although the title may be indicative of its client based, Granny’s helps not only seniors who may need help, but it’s a service for anyone who may need some general help here or there.

As Jay-Jones noted, it’s a profession that takes a maternal, compassionate disposition.

“You have to be a caregiver at heart. You have to be a compassionate person and care about your fellow man because this isn’t a job for anyone … If you’re a caregiver, you’ve got what I need,” she said. “Everything else we can teach, but if you don’t have it then you’re wasting your time.”

Jay-Jones wants an extension of herself in all of her employees and she maintains an open communication with her clients and employees to ensure that proper manners and etiquette are being utilized. There’s even an employee who will assess the quality assurances of CNAs by going to a client’s house.

One of the things JayJones loves about working with senior citizens is the stories she hears from them, and she noted that it’s one of the best things that can be offered to people nowadays: accounts of historical and culturally significant happenings that can be passed down to another generation.