Home health aide 一 dream or reality?

When a loved one, due to age or illness, cannot take care of himself on his own, his relatives face a serious question – how to find a competent caregiver so that he not only meets all the requirements of this profession but also appeals to an elderly person with poor health. Searching for a home health aide on an ad is like playing roulette; with such specialists, you can never be sure of their professionalism or reliability. It often happens that the specialist, who was found through a private ad, not only does not have special education, experience, and skills but also suddenly disappears when they count on her.

The profession is in high demand in the United States. If you are considering making a career in this field, you need to know some nuances.

Candidate requirements for certification

Before starting the training, make sure that you meet the current requirements:

1. Reached 18 years of age.
2. Has a document on higher education.
3. Knows how to drive and own a vehicle (desirable).
4. Not brought to criminal responsibility.

Organization of training

You can only legally be hired as a home health assistant if you have a valid HHA certification. You can get it if:

1. Find a learning center with a program approved by the Department of Education. The best option would be a center where home health aide training near me and job placement are offered. So you can find a job much faster without having to search for an employer on your own.
2. Complete a training course that will teach theory (offline or in the format of online lectures) and attend practical classes.
3. Successfully pass the certification, proving that you can properly and by the requirements established by the state to take care of people in need of help.

Rules of a professional home health attendant

• To be able to sincerely sympathize and empathize

While the home health aide will most likely never have personally experienced what their caregivers go through, empathy will enable the professional caregiver to understand all of their caregiver’s problems, understand how the person with disabilities is feeling, support them, and provide them with the best possible care.

• Patience and more patience

It is also vital to learn to let go of your ego and competently help caregivers complete their daily tasks. People with a high tolerance threshold tend to be the best helpers. People with limited mobility often experience emotions such as anger, embarrassment, and frustration and often vent them outward, usually on those around them. When a person with weakened health gives vent to such negative emotions, a professional home health aide will help him work through each emotion and let go of all negativity.

• Love and ability to solve problems

Daily care, like a profession, is never boring. Solving the problems of the wards is a big part of a carer’s job. Many problems a competent care specialist must solve with lightning speed and correctly.

Be attentive and notice all changes in the state of health of your wards in time.

The ability to notice even minor changes in the ward’s health is beneficial. Sometimes older people, intentionally or because of cognitive impairment, hide the fact that their health is deteriorating and do not talk about how they feel unwell. A competent home health attendant can notice what is not obvious to other people and contact relatives in time, call a doctor at home or an ambulance (if the ward condition requires hospitalization).

• Active lifestyle in everything

Physical strength and endurance 一 are one of the most essential assistants in work! Daily care 一 is not only a vocation but also an active job, during which you need to move a lot. Change clothes, bathe, feed the ward, cook food, go to the store, and bring heavy bags of groceries.

• Interpersonal skills. Ability to listen and hear

Interpersonal skills and being a good carer help prevent feelings of isolation and loneliness in a person with limited mobility. Good caregivers understand that communication is a necessary and essential part of everyone’s life.

The interpersonal skills of a professional nurse also include the relationship of her ward with his relatives. If they have conflicts or any disagreements, a competent nurse with maximum tact will try to reconcile the parties to the conflict and help her ward establish social ties.

• Positive thinking

When attendants are positive, it makes life easier for everyone around. The positive attitude of a caregiver not only cheers up his wards but also favorably affects all family members of an elderly or disabled person.

• Sensitivity, care, and spiritual intimacy with the ward 一 are not just beautiful words but one of the main rules in work

No wonder there is such a phrase 一 “find a job that you fall in love with, and you will never have to work a single day in your life again.

Professional and experienced home health aides always treat their work as a noble calling and try to become not only a nurse and assistant in the performance of daily hygiene and other functions but also a reliable, faithful companion for their ward.

• Professionalism and continuous improvement of their skills

If you got the HHA certificate, you can move forward and get Saving hands on cpr training, AED, and First Aid courses to become more professional in the sphere of health help.