Like many Home Care Aides, Anna Rudova traveled thousands of miles to come to the U.S. to start a new life. Leaving behind her home country of Russia and a career as a doctor, Rudova and her family immigrated to the U.S. 12 years ago.
A friendly and energetic woman, Anna Rudova spent the past 11 years as an Individual Provider Home Care Aide caring for multiple consumers.
Adjusting to a new language and culture was a challenge, but Rudova’s natural ability to connect with people and her boundless energy helped turn the challenge into an opportunity. Through her work as a Home Care Aide, Rudova says she has learned new ways to care for people.
“I have learned how to care for people, not just treat them.” She also says home care work has exposed her to U.S. culture and helped her learn English more quickly.
“It has opened me up to a different life in America,” she says. “It’s been very good for me.”
Her own family provides a model for how Rudova cares for others. She brought many skills from her background in the medical profession in Russia that help her with her work: how to take care of people, how to speak with them and how to explain things and help people feel better about aging or illness.
Anna Rudova, right, makes tea with her mother/consumer,
Mira Rudova, her mother’s home in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. Photo by Inye Wokoma.
But she believes family support is what really helps people live better lives as they grow older. Sometimes that means HCAs need to step into the role of family member for their consumers, especially if they have no family with them.
“I try to be more close to my clients, because they need heart from me, too.” She loves the opportunity to help her consumers do things they might not normally do – go out to parks, eat different foods, or compare their lives in America with life back home.
“(It’s) not enough for (a) caregiver to just tell ‘hi’ and ‘bye,’ ” says Rudova. As a Home Care Aide, “you can help people. This is my general sense all my life, help people. Do what I can do and more.”
The decision to leave Russia was not easy for the family; they would only leave if they could go together. Now, “we have very big and very good family here, everybody (is) here in Seattle,” she says proudly.
Caring for her mother also gives her a chance to spend time with, and learn from, the “very, very smart and bright woman” who now needs Rudova’s help as she ages.
Rudova says while learning English is important to her and other Russian-speaking Home Care Aides she knows, she also says that training in a Home Care Aide’s native language is invaluable.
Anna Rudova cares for her mother/consumer, Mira Rudova at her mother’s home in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. Photo by Inye Wokoma
Rudova has taken her Continuing Education through the Training Partnership’s Russian language online classes. “It was good to take training in Russian,” she said. “Good classes, good program. Easy to understand, good translation. It was done great.”
Once she took the online classes, she helped other Home Care Aides learn how to log in and take classes too. She said of Russian online classes: “(It’s) absolutely, 100 percent better to understand in Russian. Nobody had trouble understanding. (There is) some confusion in English.”
Rudova says sharing a language with your consumer makes a huge difference in the consumer’s life.
“(There are) a lot of benefits from having caregivers speak the same language. Old people don’t have people who are around to talk to them. They have no English, no friends. When I came to them, everyone was happy to talk together, discuss problems, discuss problems in the U.S., discuss movies and books. Large benefits (to speaking the same language). For caregivers too – native language is native language.”
Today, Rudova is involved in SEIU 775 getting other Home Care Aides involved in advocating for themselves. She sees her work with the union as part of her mission to serve.
Working for the union “took me from my caregiver life and brought me into union activities,” she says. “It’s very good for me because I can help more people.” It’s also helped her learn more about life in the U.S.
“Here I can converse, I can see absolutely another American life,” she says. “This is (a) very good experience, and I am happy that year by year, I know more about American life, and I love it.”
Rudova’s advice for new Home Care Aides? She says it’s very important for Home Care Aides to expand their knowledge through Continuing Education. “(With) more education, more understanding,” she says. “If someone get a higher level of education, they can get higher earning.”
Read the Spotlight on Russia here and how to make a Borscht soup here.
