About Us
Meet Our Team
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Janine Karlsen & Darryl Mack, Owners

As owners of Home Instead in the Okanagan, Janine Karlsen and Darryl Mack combine their skills and experience to impact residents in Lake Country, Kelowna, and Penticton. 


“We consider this vital work and we strive to do it with dignity and respect.”

– Janine Karlsen

Janine is a registered nurse with a graduate degree in counselling and has over 25 years of experience working in every area of health care, including acute pediatrics, wellness and senior care. Darryl has an engineering background, taught at BCIT for many years, and currently works in exploration mining while contributing to Kelowna Home Instead.

Janine and Darryl’s vision for Home Instead Okanagan is to exceed expectations providing experiences and connections that enhance each person’s sense of worth and purpose and to do so with ease and joy. They aim to be powerful advocates for the seniors of the Okanagan and across Canada.

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Kim Fuoco, Operations Manager

Kim moved to Kelowna in 2009 and started employment with Home Instead Senior Care in 2010. She has over 20 years of experience in management roles.

She has had the opportunity to grow with the company and supports the office team to ensure clients and CAREGiver needs are met.

Kim strongly believes that the company's strength comes from its wonderful CAREGivers. They provide, “Professional Care that embodies the core values of family, when family needs a supporting hand”.

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Tammie Swanson, Client Care Coordinator / LPN

Tammie was raised in Vancouver but has resided in Kelowna for 13 years. She graduated from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops in 2007 and has extensive nursing experience, including working on the Stroke/Clinical Teaching Unit and the COVID Unit at KGH. Tammie joined the Home Instead team in June of 2021 as one of the Client Care Managers. She is an ardent advocate for teamwork and really values assisting and advocating the needs of others. When she is not helping others, Tammie spends time with her two sons and her fur-babies.
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Fallon Haswell, Care Recruitment & Training Manager

Fallon moved to Kelowna in August 2021 and started working with Home Instead in October 2022. Over the past eight years, she has worked in Human Resources – recruiting, onboarding, training, coaching, and providing support to employees. Three of those years were spent at Alberta Health services where she fell in love with health care and helping people in a different way.

Fallon is excited to be a part of the team at Home Instead and to help support our Care Professionals as they care for the seniors in this wonderful community. When not at work, Fallon enjoys spending time with her family, exploring Kelowna and surrounding areas, and spending time with her dog, Sadie.

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Dena Adams - Operations Assistant

Dena graduated from Okanagan University College in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She has worked as a Registered Nurse at Kelowna General Hospital in general medicine, wound care and oncology.

She then spent seven years working at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus as a clinical instructor and practice placement coordinator. Though she enjoyed working with nursing students, she began to recognize that her passion for working with clients/patients/seniors was drawing her back to hands-on care. She began working for Home Instead in November 2014.

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Peter Church, Office Coordinator

​With an extensive background in the Performing Arts and Arts Administration, Peter is passionate about people and their stories. He and his wife, Kimberley, have lived in cities all over the country, but made Kelowna their home in May of 2019.

In his spare time, Peter enjoys cycling, spending time with his pet rabbit Montague, and creating stage plays inspired by the old-time radio plays of the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s.

He is very happy to be part of the Home Instead team!

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Olwyn Tomlinson, Service Coordinator

​Olwyn joined the office in 2012 after managing Kelowna MCC, a non-profit thrift store, and working as an administrator for a local long-term care home. As a scheduler for Home Instead, Olwyn works hard to ensure that CAREGiver visits are in line with our clients' needs. She is the single mother of four children and one darling grandson. When not juggling the schedules at Home Instead, Olwyn enjoys watching Dr. Who, playing Bingo, and winning trivia.
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Taylor Schlenker, On Call Coordinator

Taylor moved to the Okanagan Valley in 2016 after graduating from high school. She began pursuing her BA in psychology at UBCO that September. 

In 2018 she started as a CAREGiver with Home Instead and fell in love with the office leadership, and the compassionate CAREGivers. 

When life brought Taylor back to her hometown in Alberta, she knew she still wanted Home Instead to be a part of her life, and so she took on the role of weekend scheduler. She loves being able to stay connected to CAREGivers, clients, and staff alike. 

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Kyla Asuncion - On Call Coordinator

Kyla moved to Kelowna in December 2021 after living in Calgary for almost 2 years. She joined Home Instead in October 2022 as a Weekend On-Call Scheduler.

She is a Learning and Development professional with more than 10 years of Management experience. She has handled multiple training teams in Asia and North America. Her experience in Technical, Customer Service, Sales, and Employee Development Training has helped her understand different aspects of the Call Center Industry and earner her Green Belt in Six Sigma in 2014.

Our Team

Your Home Instead team in Kelowna, BC possesses a heartfelt desire to work with seniors in the community. It is our ultimate goal to forge extraordinary relationships between our clients and their Care Professionals.

When you are ready for help, our caring staff is on call to quickly answer your questions and accommodate your senior services needs.

Home Instead Caregiver wearing mask reading newspaper with senior man at home

Proudly Serving Aging Adults & Their Families

Our Promise

As a locally owned business, our team offers friendly, responsive service right in your neighbourhood. Families love our team because we:
  • Do what we say we’re going to do – each and every time
  • Solve care problems using compassionate, person-centered solutions
  • Engage in thoughtful relationships with the families we serve
  • Give back to our community

Testimonial

Latest review from our community

Kelowna and Penticton (Change Location)

Meet Our Team

We believe every family in the area deserves tailor made in-home senior care with a compassionate touch. That's why we established Home Instead® of Kelowna, BC.

Home Instead Caregiver helps senior woman unload groceries from vehicle