For Marie Carmel Appolon, caregiving isn’t just a job – it’s a way of life.
“I do this because of my compassion for people,” Appolon said. “I thought, if I go into that field, I will be able to assist, to help, people who are in need.”
Her commitment is what’s made her this year’s recipient of the 2025 Northeast Region Caregiver of the Year award, which her company, Right at Home, awards to one of thousands of caregivers across the Northeast region each year.
“Marie is a great caregiver. She inevitably gets high marks from every client that we send her to,” said Zubin Kapadia, the owner of Right at Home of North Shore Long Island.
She is conscientious, she shows up on time. She’s very talented at what she does. She is just above and beyond,” he continued. “She’ll do things like stay late to make sure that her clients finish their dinner, or if they are getting ready for bed, that they’re properly tucked in, even if her shift is over. She doesn’t see it just as a job, but more as her calling.”
Appolon, who lives in Lindenhurst and primarily cares for patients in Port Washington, has been a home caregiver for about 10 years. She’s been working through Right at Home’s Westbury office for the past eight years. Over that time, Kapadia said she’s cared for around 15 to 20 patients.
“I always stay longer with them,” Appolon, who’s 61, said. She said she continues to care for her patients until they pass or the family decides to place them in assisted living because she feels strongly about seeing their care through.
Prior to becoming one of Nassau’s best caregivers, Appolon lived with her family in Haiti. While there, she went to law school and worked as a lab technician. Unfortunately, she said, her certifications were not able to transfer to the United States when she immigrated, which she said she did in order to escape political instability and violence.
“I am dedicated to this job,” Appolon said. “This award makes me very excited. The recognition gives me the purpose to work harder.”
When caring for a patient, Appolon said she accounts for their every need. Depending on their ability level, she helps them get dressed, bathe, take medications and eat. But, she doesn’t stop there. She makes home-cooked meals according to her patients’ specific diets, plays board and card games and watches their favorite shows with them.
“Even if they don’t want to eat, I always find a way to make them eat with my cooking,” Appolon said.
It’s that kind of comprehensive care that has patients describing receiving her as a caregiver as “winning the lottery,” Kapadia said. He said many clients and their families said they considered her part of their family while she cared for them.
He knew her commitment to her patients was truly special when she insisted on continuing to care for them even after her previous home in Queens burned down a few years ago.
“I said to her, ‘Do you want to take some time off?’” Kapadia said. He provided her with a grant through the nonprofit Caregivers Advancement Fund to help get her back on her feet and replace some of what she’d lost.
“She was on a case with a very ill client. And she said, ‘No, he needs me. I can’t do that. I’ll keep working,’” he said. “That was the turning point for me when I said, ‘this woman is special. She’s incredible,’” Kapadia said. “It’s hard to find people like that in this world.”
He said he’s always impressed by the way she doesn’t let anything stop her from caring for her patients, including severe weather, which typically causes other caregivers to call out.
“If everyone could be like Marie, we would be amazing,” Kapadia said.
