In April 2013, Holly Martin quit her corporate management position of 25 years with a major telecommunications company to pursue her passion of helping others with special needs and enrolled in the PSW course at Georgian College, Barrie. In 2014, Holly marked her 60th year by completing the PSW course and graduating with Honours on the Dean’s list.
Holly took her newfound knowledge and began to work in the community with a corporate homecare agency. Not long before she started her own homecare agency – Touch a Heart Homecare Inc., her team grew steadily, even through the challenges and restrictions of a pandemic, have continued to offer one on one quality care.
Holly is very passionate about her clients, their families and her team. Touch a Heart Homecare Inc. offers services from companion care, respite, and dementia through to End of Life care. They are committed to being a supporting and caring part of the journey of life.
PSWs are, by definition, a support to all those involved with the family as they travel on their own journey or their loved one’s journey. Holly’s motto, “Our Family Caring for Yours,” means making sure someone is there to take the extra time to sit and listen no matter how long a day it has been.
This pandemic has taken its toll on everyone, especially the clients Holly’s team works with. Maintaining her services required change and creativity to keep her clients and team members safe, encouraged, courageous and motivated – especially when family was not permitted to visit. Isolating has been hard. Many clients have no one to talk to, so Holly and her team have been there to support, listen, educate, assist, and keep everyone connected. They are committed to their role as PSWs with a uniqueness of individual care that Holly’s passion and leadership continue to inspire.
Holly started as a student member of OPSWA in 2014 and has continued to be a proud member of OPSWA to this day as a business member, serving as a member of the Advisory Committee. Holly also helps and encourages in her community by mentoring students within the healthcare industry and the PSW community in the Barrie area. Holly also offers consulting advice to families who need to find the right healthcare fit for their loved ones.
