Danso Kodua

Danso-Kodua

Meet Danso Kodua, a certified Home Health Aide, (HHA) at Westchester Family Care Inc. (WFC). We proudly congratulate Danso for being awarded the Heroes in the Home™ honor, a Statewide Recognition Program by the NYS Association of Health Care Providers which celebrates outstanding caregivers. Honorees are identified by their agency as outstanding home care caregivers over the last year.

Danso is a highly experienced HHA, having first obtained his license in 2007 and has been with WFC since 2019. His caregiving experience is diverse as he has worked in many venues – hospitals, long term care facilities and in-home. Danso credits his success at caregiving to being patient with clients and having compassion for them. And one other thing: clients and their families love Danso’s cooking.

“If clients are sick, they are very sad. I try to speak to them nicely and we have long conversations. They feel loved and give compassion back to me. I am so humble with my clients. They respect that. We talk about traditions and life and culture and food and language and history.”

Danso Kodua, HHA

Readers of these WFC blogs may recall Danso from one of our early reports on how WFC was handling clients during the intense early days of COVID. Danso was highlighted back then for volunteering to work as a Screener at a partner Independent Living facility. The partner facility reported that Danso played a transformational role during March and April by cheering up healthcare workers while taking their temperatures. Danso, himself, says he felt really appreciated as the “COVID Guard.”

Not only did Danso make a difference for them during that stressful period, he also took on heroic assignments working as an HHA inside hospitals. For each client, he would have to gear up with gown, mask, gloves and even cover up his phone for protection. He had one client with COVID who was in total isolation, alone in a room.

“People were afraid to go in. But I believe if you sign up to be a healthcare worker, it has to be for everybody. Such people need your help. This guy with COVID who was in isolation in the hospital was no joke. That was a tough case. But, he did recover and thanked me for my patience with him. The man was very happy to have me there. And, WFC was great during COVID … they gave the protocols of exactly what to do.”

Danso Kodua, HHA

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Danso approaches his in-home clients with much the same empathy. He attributes the positive feedback he receives to several factors: love; curiosity about their backgrounds; never talk about politics or religion; and, peanut butter!

Let’s explain the cooking factor first. Danso grew up in Ghana, West Africa. His clients are mostly American but there are also those from Italy, Ireland, Israel, and other origins. Most don’t know about Ghana or that it’s in West Africa or confuse it with Guyana (which is on the Caribbean coast of South America.)

Danso brings Ghana into clients’ homes with his cooking. “Most clients,” he says, “didn’t grow up with spicy food. They enjoy my cooking because they fall in love with the flavor of my traditional dishes from Ghana.” Basic Ghanaian dishes call for plantains, rice, fish or chicken, and a secret ingredient: peanut butter. Danso cooks, they all share, and recipes are collected. “I put peanut butter in my chicken dishes, and they love that.”

In addition to braving COVID and bringing his native cuisine into client homes, Danso’s key to caregiving is about understanding the client and making an emotional connection with them. It not only works for the client and wins awards for Danso, he sees it as a two-way relationship. Someday, he’ll get paid back for all the love he dispenses.

“There are certain times when you finish your tasks and you’ve cleaned up. You are the only person in the house with the client. My being with them gives them happiness and strength. It’s about emotional energy: it makes their medicine work faster. I love helping the sick and the weak. One day, I’ll grow old or get sick and I’ll need assistance too.”

Danso Kodua, HHA