Ellen with her daughter Hillary
I'm Ellen Hoyt, I have lived in Maine all my life.  I have one daughter named Hillary who is a teacher.  I have done several different jobs in my life most in the social service field.

                I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June 2005. I thought I might die but my daughter was a freshman in high school and I wanted to live to see her graduate, I fought cancer hard.  I spent 8-hour days in the hospital having chemo, and I made it through.  I feel coming out of something like this makes you a different person.  It also makes you part of a group of special people that are called “survivors” of cancer.  A group NO ONE ever wants to be a member of!

                I was happily married for 25 years.  Larry, my husband, and I discovered he had kidney cancer in October 2008.  We thought because I had beaten ovarian cancer, he would win his battle.  He had an operation to remove a kidney in December 2008.  The cancer was growing fast in January 2009.  Larry was given 3 months to live. Larry wanted to be home and I took care of him.  He got to see our daughter graduate high school.  Larry passed in August 2009.

                Two weeks after my husband died, our only child went to college.  I was all alone in our house.  I wanted to have a job that was meaningful to me but paying bills was the first priority.   I started working at a grocery store.  I worked with some nice people but I needed to get back to helping people somehow.

                A friend of mine told me about a lady who needed help so she could stay in her home safely.  I started working for her and enjoyed it.  After the first 18 months, everyone who worked with her quit, except me!  Because she continued to need help in order to stay at home, someone suggested Katherine Strout.  I hadn’t yet met Kathy, but I called her. 

My lady, her family and I met with Kathy.  I felt Kathy was a good match, and we worked well together. 

When my Lady passed away, I started working with Kathy doing direct care in peoples' homes.


I became a Private Home Care, Inc. scheduler for Kathy, and then responsibilities were added as PHCI grew.  In November of this year, I have been with PHCI 5 years.  I'm now the Executive Assistant and I love my job.  

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