About Our Staff
Tom Lee
Owner and Business Operations
Tom is driven to exceed client expectations and believes that when working with an elder aging in home, communication between the client, family members, and HCA needs to be superior. Tom has a 33-year background in executive management roles primarily focused on client account management, customer service, hiring, and training. His role with HCA is to oversee daily business operations as well as assisting in screening, selecting, and training caregivers and continue to build Vermont’s finest team of caregivers. Tom is a graduate of Swarthmore College. Outside of work Tom enjoys tennis, golf, travel, and has worked as a volunteer ski instructor with Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sport for the past 12 years.
Stacy Lee, CMC
Owner and Client Care Manager
Stacy has worked in both the hospital and home health settings as a Registered Nurse. She gained experience in a wide variety of hospitals including John Hopkins Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and FAHC/UVM Medical Center. Areas of experience include Oncology, Medical/Surgical and Critical Care/Trauma in the hospital setting. She also worked with the VNA of Chittenden and Grand Isle counties in the Pediatric high tech program. Over time, she learned to appreciate a holistic view of wellness and her desire is to help clients live happy and healthy lives at home. Stacy’s role is overseeing care plans and ensuring the highest standard of professionalism from all members of the care team. Stacy will work directly with families to make sure clients are happy over the course of our service. Stacy is a Certified Care Manager and Functional Medicine Health Coach. She is also a member of the Aging Life Care Association.
Gena Braman, PTA
Client Care Manager
Gena is from a small town and a large family. As a child, she would frequent the local nursing home with her grandmother, an LNA. Growing up she always wanted to help people, taking on her first caregiver role as a companion to her ailing grandfather at just 12 years old. Gena comes to us with twenty years of experience in physical therapy. Fourteen of those years were spent in skilled nursing where she worked her way from new graduate treating therapist to clinical coordinator, rehab clinical lead, and most recently as director of rehab. Gena is friendly, driven and reliable. Her career goal has been, and will always be, to bring a sense of joy and wellness to her clients and their family. She realizes the importance of being home and how that affects both physical and emotional wellbeing and as such is fully committed to working with you to establish care needs and goals that will improve your or your loved ones’ quality of life. She believes that her knowledge and skillset will bring you a unique and unparalleled level of service.
Tammy Berthiaume
Employee Care Director
Tammy returns to Home Care Assistance as our Employee Care Director. She has worked in the senior field for 18 years, starting her career as a caregiver, working into the role of scheduler, and evolving into management. This experience allows Tammy to understand caregiver/client dynamics and has given her the tools to successfully lead the team. Tammy has built and continues to maintain strong working relationships with local senior facilities, communities, and industry peers. Outside of work Tammy enjoys being outdoors, spending time with her family and friends, and each year she volunteers with the Alzheimer’s Association walk to end Alzeimer’s (a cause that is very close to her heart).
Shantel Waldvogel
Employee Care Manager
Shantel comes to Home Care Assistance via Upstate, New York where she has had extensive health care experience working for one of Central New York’s premier Assisted Living, and Memory care facilities. From there she relocated to Northern Vermont where she worked as a Home Health Care Aide in a small facility in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont; most of her assignments have been with families throughout the town of Stowe, and primarily Lamoille County. She currently attends graduate school where she is pursuing her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. With HCA some of Shantel’s responsibilities will be scheduling and recruiting among other duties. When not working at HCA, Shantel enjoys outdoor pursuits, with her fiancé and 3-year-old daughter.
Niina Abu Aziz
Employee Care Manager
JNiina comes to HCA after making the exciting move from the charming town of Montpelier to the vibrant Chittenden County area. With a career spanning several years in the healthcare industry, Niina has cultivated a deep understanding and a genuine connection with those she serves, particularly the elderly. Her journey of discovery began when she worked as a Personal Care Assistant (PCA) at Home Health and Hospice, where she provided compassionate care and support to individuals in need. Niina’s dedication and empathy shone brightly in this role, inspiring her to continue her journey in the healthcare sector. Niina’s journey led her to the University of Vermont, where she hopes to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science, driven by her unwavering commitment to the field of healthcare. Following her time as a PCA, Niina transitioned to the role of an Administrative Assistant in an Assisted Living facility. Here, she not only displayed exceptional organizational skills but also demonstrated her commitment to enhancing the quality of life for senior residents. Now, as an Employee Care Manager of the HCA team, Niina has taken on the responsibilities of scheduling and recruiting among other duties contributing her expertise to ensure the delivery of high-quality care to those who need it most. Beyond her professional pursuits, Niina finds joy in the simple pleasures of life. When she’s not hard at work at HCA you can often find her in the kitchen, indulging her passion for cooking. Niina also cherishes moments spent with friends and family, valuing the connections that make life truly special.
Jessica Wallace
Client Care Manager
Jessica’s journey started in the Northeast Kingdom where she attended preparatory school at Vermont Academy. She, her 11 year old daughter and 2 cats now call Burlington home. Jessica has been involved in healthcare for 10 years. Her start was as a licensed nursing assistant. It was then she realized her passion for providing consistent, quality care, and supporting her community. She knew she had to do more! She yearned to be able to meet the bigger needs. Needs in any capacity, balance the person’s wellness, their clinical needs, and care for the person as a whole. That resulted in her returning to school and becoming a nurse. Shortly after becoming a nurse Jessica was published by the International Nurses Association as a worldwide leader in Healthcare and top nurse for the state of Vermont (2016). Jessica brings experience from specialty fields of healthcare such as substance abuse, correctional nursing, inpatient rehabilitation, geriatrics. long term care, assisted living, skilled nursing and even obtained her own private medicaid high tech nursing credentials. Jessica’s mission is now to devote her career to seniors and the aging population. They are most in need of navigating how to stay in their homes and age in place in the most supportive, engauged, proactive and safe way. There is no place like home! Your wellbeing is in its best place when you stay in place! Jessica brings her enthusiasm, compassion, ingenuity, dependability, expertise, and consistency to her role as a client care manager and feels she landed in the place that supports her true calling! Outside of work Jessica is an avid crafter and DYIer is active on the social media scene TIKTOK and is a product tester for Rustoleum. You will always find her with her daughter out and about having an adventure trying the best of what the area’s attractions have to offer.
Judy Green
Office Manager
Judy comes to Home care Assistance by way of the American Red Cross of Burlington, Vermont. Here she worked as the supervisor for the state of Vermont and was also the hiring manager and supervised her Vermont team, which became her pride and joy. She expected a very high level of professionalism and great customer service from her team. Previously, she worked as a registered nurse in both acute care and long-term care settings at FAHC/UVMMC as an RN III in the areas of surgery, trauma, and infection control. Judy’s passion is working in health care at all stages of life, and has been an advocate for all she serves. Judy is serving as our Office Manager overseeing the Employee Care Management side of the business, including Caregiver recruitment, retention, and scheduling.
