Home health care can be a challenge. Caregivers, seniors living alone, people with disabilities and those recovering from injuries or surgery can all need help with medical care and household tasks. Home health aides are trained to handle all of these tasks as well as emergency readiness. By providing support and respite care, they can help to improve the quality of life for everyone in the household.
Giving caregivers a hand
Caring for elderly parents or special needs children can be exhausting, taking a toll on the caregivers and affecting the quality for life for everyone in the household. Most caregivers are balancing elderly care with full time work and other responsibilities. Families with special needs children can face similar challenges. As many as 5.4% of all children of school age in the U.S. have one or more forms of disability.
Home health aides can help families and caregivers to provide better care for their family members by providing support and respite care. For veterans and those recovering from injure or surgery at home, personal care services can help them to handle household chores. Likewise, seniors living alone can get help with daily tasks like cooking and cleaning. Besides these tangible services, aides help create a positive atmosphere which helps families and individuals deal with the challenges facing them.
What training do home health aides get?
Home health aides are trained in a range of health and personal care services. They must have state certification or pass an evaluation if their service are engaged through Medicare or Medicaid. Training can include cooking for special dietary needs, and for seniors, as well as basic medical care and even emergency preparedness.
Aides are usually referred by and supervised by medical professionals, mostly nurses and therapists. The work also involves record keeping and reporting on the client’s medical condition and progress. People who choose a career as home health aides do so because they want to help people. They also possess intangible qualities like compassion and kindness. This helps them to fulfill their professional duties. It also creates a bond which almost turns them into family members in the households in which they work.
Home health aides help caregivers, seniors, veterans and people living with disabilities with household tasks like cooking, cleaning and shopping. They help to create a safer and more positive environment for individuals and families in challenging conditions. Most people who choose this career do so because they want to help people.
