Meet The Team | Senior Helpers of Westchester

Meet the Westchester Office

More than 90% of seniors want to age in their own home with dignity but getting the right type of care can seem daunting. At Senior Helpers Westchester we believe that getting the best care for your loved ones should not be complicated. Joanne Taylor opened the Senior Helpers Westchester office in 2016 because of her passion for helping others and her interest in the growing need for in-home care services. She is committed to delivering the best possible in-home care to seniors in the Westchester community.

We take in-home care seriously and make it a priority to provide the highest level of client service possible. Since opening, we have built an exceptional team of care professionals, each committed to remaining at the forefront of the in-home care industry through our proprietary ongoing training and education programs.

Our History

Senior Helpers was founded in 2002 by Tony Bonacuse with the help of Peter Ross after their firsthand experience in caring for their respective family members. Tony and Peter identified a need that was not being filled properly by the other companies. They realized most seniors would prefer to age in their own home rather than move into an unfamiliar institution. Unfortunately, the options available to most seniors were very limited. Most seniors did not have access to well-trained, dependable and affordable in-home care. This was the mission-driven spark that started Senior Helpers.

The first office opened in Baltimore and quickly developed a reputation for delivering excellent in-home senior care with their well-trained staff of professional caregivers. Based on the success of the Baltimore location, the company began to expand. Over the past 13 years, the Senior Helpers family has grown to include a network of more than 300 locally owned and operated franchises across the United States.

Senior Helpers Westchester was proud to join the system in 2016. Like every other owner, we too are fully committed to the original goal of providing dependable and affordable in-home care with well-trained caregivers. Nothing is more important to us than being the best available resource for seniors and families in our community. We have been lucky to serve hundreds of seniors in our community over the years, and we are committed to continuing to provide uncompromising levels of care to all our families.

Our process

The first step in the process is a complimentary, initial in-home care assessment with a Senior Helpers consultant. This assessment can help you understand the true needs of your loved one and your options. Together we can discuss their needs, review our senior care services and determine what’s best for your entire family.

We will cover:

Your family's specific goals

Your loved one's daily plan design and schedule

Pricing and payment methods

Implementation process

Ongoing communication and follow-up plan

Meet the Westchester Team

Joanne Taylor

Owner

Joanne Taylor owns the Senior Helpers Westchester office and leads all aspects of the business. After navigating the senior care market to provide and choose care for two of her family members, Joanne was moved to make a career change from financial services. She knows firsthand how difficult it can be to serve as a caregiver, advocate, and loved one at the same time. Joanne uses her highly effective, entrepreneurially oriented executive skills to run a successful home care business. While serving in past roles, including vice president at an S&P 500 insurance firm and COO of a nonprofit loan fund with over $100 million in funds under management, Joanne honed strong operations and management skills. She is passionate about providing Westchester's seniors the highest quality care possible and supporting and training caregivers and other staff. Joanne strives to provide the best possible care to extend clients’ desires to age in place and remain independent at home. She and her staff also provide advice to clients and their families at a time when choices become difficult. She holds a B.S. in finance and marketing from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from New York University's Stern School of Business. Joanne is active in the Westchester community and serves as a volunteer at several organizations.

Michele Moucatel

Director of Patient Services

Michele Moucatel, MPH RN, joined Senior Helpers Westchester in March 2023. Michele's nursing career spans over 40 years and includes critical care, research, administration, and home care. Over the course of her career, she has seen multiple changes in the delivery of health care. She advocates for people, especially seniors with health care needs and their caregivers, who face increasingly difficult challenges caring for their loved ones. Michele is active in her community and currently serves as the Pound Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Corp Vice President. In addition, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking with her 3 large dogs, and taking drum and guitar lessons.

Marcia A. Minott

Administrative Manager

Marcia A. Minott joined the Senior Helpers Westchester team in November 2018 in the role of Office Coordinator and now serves as Administrative Manager responsible for all scheduling and hiring processes. After migrating to the United States in 2014 from Jamaica, Marcia worked four years for a large, licensed home care agency in New York City as a Clinical Coordinator and Administrator. In those roles, she was tasked with caregiver scheduling and incident reporting and follow-ups. Marcia developed a deep appreciation for elder care based on her personal experience teaming with family to provide care for her ill mother and grandmother. She firmly believes in the power of positive thinking in the workplace and transfers that spirit to caregivers and clients in her daily interactions. Marcia has a B.S. in Health Administration from the College of Westchester. She has two adult children and a grandson. Marcia enjoys bonding with her family, traveling, and meeting new people in her spare time.

Henesis De Los Angeles

Administrative Lead

Henesis De Los Angeles joined the Senior Helpers Westchester team in March 2023. Henesis worked for a licensed home care agency for five years as a Director for Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). In this role, she oversaw the management/training of assessment of day-to-day employee operations. She handled all HR processing for Personal Assistants within the organization. She genuinely has a passion for helping others and being able to go above and beyond for the clients and caregivers we interact with daily. At Senior Helpers, she supports all administrative processes for clients and caregivers. Henesis is pursuing a B.A. at Colorado Technical University for Criminal Justice in Cybercrime. Henesis enjoys reading, swimming, and traveling when she is not busy with her six-year-old daughter.

Gretchen Young

Communications Liaison

Gretchen Young has been with Senior Helpers Westchester since December 2019. Before joining the agency, Gretchen worked as an Alcoholism Counselor for Westchester County and several inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facilities. Gretchen also worked as a liaison between the medical team, patients, and families at a local hospital. With these previous positions, Gretchen has been able to tie in her skills to benefit Seniors Helpers Westchester’s clients and their families as she oversees caregiver training assignments and client and caregiver satisfaction. During Gretchen’s downtime, she cares for her elderly mother, which combines the heart and passion between her work and everyday life.

Yvette Blackman

On-Call Coordinator

Yvette Blackman began working at Senior Helpers Westchester in July 2022. As a research assistant for clinical trials in a hospital for the past 17 years, her contribution to raising awareness of and participation in the clinical trial study for pancreatic cancer is one of her biggest achievements. Yvette enjoys listening to patients and their families and helping them understand the options and resources available to them. Her lifelong commitment to aiding her parents and other family members has given her a desire to help the sick and elderly. She likes traveling, reading, and spending time with her grandchildren, family, and friends.

Denise M. Mitchell

Trainer

Denise M. Mitchell joined the Senior Helpers Westchester team in July 2017 in the role of Client/Caregiver Coordinator and has since become a Caregiver Trainer. After watching her parents navigate senior care for both of their aging mothers simultaneously, and for one of her uncles, Denise developed an interest in home care. Prior to joining Senior Helpers, she was an educator in New York City and Long Island. Denise is passionate about dementia care and teaching the Senior Gems program to our staff. Denise has a B.A. in Political Science from Spelman College, an M.S. in Elementary Education, an Advanced Certification in Educational Leadership and Technology from Adelphi University, and an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Alliance Theological Seminary. Denise loves to spend time with family, write, read, crochet and travel when she is not busy running her nonprofit organization, The Precious Sunflowers, which addresses bullying and gun violence in schools.

Hope Miller

Volunteer Registered Nurse

Hope Miller, RN joined Senior Helpers Westchester in March 2018 as the Director of Patient Services but has since returned to enjoying her retirement. She remains active as a volunteer nurse and member of the agency’s Continuous Quality Improvement Committee. Hope retired from her position as Vice President of Care Services at Isabella Geriatric Center, a not-for-profit organization serving the elderly since 1875, in March 2017. Hope spent over thirty years at the facility with administrative responsibility for facility-based departments, i.e., Nursing, Social Services, Rehabilitation, Therapeutic Recreation, Volunteers, Marketing, Child Care, and Pastoral Services. During her tenure, she facilitated developing and launching community-based programs, i.e., Adult Day Health-Care, Long-Term Home Health Care, Senior Resource Center, and their Licensed Home Care Agency. She was responsible for ensuring federal, state, and local regulatory compliance, meeting fiscal mandates, adhering to quality measures and improvements, and promoting client, consumer, and staff satisfaction while displaying good stewardship and responsible care for the vulnerable and at-risk populations being served. Prior to coming to Isabella in 1987, Hope held numerous positions in acute and chronic care organizations. She has participated on many committees seeking to set policy and influence both the local and national response to at risk populations. She has a B.S. in Nursing from Pace University and an M.S. in Health Administration from Long Island University.

Meet the Westchester Office

Our History

Our process

Meet the Westchester Team

The Senior Helpers Westchester Office

Areas We Serve