Meet The Staff

Angela Hammond, LMSW

I’ve been a Licensed Masters Social Worker for 15+ years, 8 of those years have been spent working with the elderly, and those diagnosed with dementia, through hospice and a nursing facility. As a hospice Social Worker, you spend a lot of time (and miles) in your car driving to the next patient’s house. The highways and byways of Alabama are where the dream began for me. After years of experiencing grieving Caregivers share their stories of needing breaks, ignoring their own needs to care for their loved ones, and wishing for more resources, in my head, I started creating a place that might not solve all of the problems but maybe it could help. Thus, The Day Place was born. As a licensed Social Worker in the state of Alabama, 30 hours of continuing education are required every 2 years. I focus my studies on the elderly and dementia, receiving recertification as a Dementia Care Specialist.

Melissa Dixon, Certified Caregiver

We are thrilled to have Melissa Dixon join our staff at The Day Place. She brings over 15 years of experience as a Certified Caregiver and has worked in a variety of settings, but most of her time has been utilized in an Assisted Living facility. When meeting Melissa, she has a calm demeanor but her face lights up when she talks about loving what she does, taking care of the elderly. She is attentive and a good listener, these attributes are imperative when working with Friends, as they love to share stories of events and people they can remember, and sometimes they share their stories repeatedly, luckily Melissa considers herself patient too. Being attentive also helps when Friends can’t tell us what is wrong but we’ll watch for signs and triggers. Melissa uses cueing to assist Friends with feeding and performing activities of daily living, as well as redirection when needing to turn a Friend’s attention away from a stimuli they find distressing. When asked about her level of comfort transferring Friends that may be chair-bound, she doesn’t hesitate to say that she’s good and has often been told by previous clients that they aren’t “scared” when she’s helping them!!

Chris Hammond, Operations and More

An Auburn graduate with a Business Degree, Chris will manage the business operations and most tasks that involve being handy, creative and strong. He’s my husband, so I’m biased! If I’ve been told once, I’ve been told a dozen times that someone’s father or grandfather had dementia, but they would’ve never wanted to go to a day respite program. I get it, but we’re trying extra hard to make The Day Place appealing to all! With Chris, we’ve created a “workshop” at The Day Place, it’s designed to allow the opportunity to tinker and fidget with gadgets and gizmos, things they may have used “out in the shop.” And as our daughter likes to say, Dad’s the funny one, so he’ll bring the humor.