If you are caring for a loved one in your home, perhaps your physician or friends have suggested you get the assistance of a home health aide. But, what, exactly does a home health aide do?

If you are thinking about hiring a home care agency, here are some of the duties you can expect them to complete.

The home health aide will typically work under the guidance of a clinical caregiver such as a nurse or physician. The aide will provide basic health care such as assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) like bathing, dressing, and eating and also can offer medication support. The aide will also keep a record of your loved one’s functionality in order to alert the clinician to unexpected changes.

In some instances, the home health aide will assist your loved one with light physical therapy or activity and accompany the elderly person to doctor appointments. They can also help you or your loved one with simple household chores like laundry and dusting. The home health aide is there to assist both the elderly person and you, the primary caregiver. Depending on the level of assistance needed, they can be there daily or just a few hours a week.

How to Choose a Home Health Aide

Personal care aides spend so much time with their patients and their patients’ family that they themselves become like one of the family. It is common for family member caregivers and the elderly person being cared for to develop a strong bond with the home health aide.

In order to know what sort of assistance you and your loved one will need, the home care agency will send a registered nurse to your home to do an evaluation. During this evaluation, you can tell them what tasks you would like assistance with and how often. It is the agency’s goal to match you with an aide who will meet your needs and whose personality blends well with your family. If you have specific wants, such as an aide of a certain gender or who speaks a certain language, it is perfectly okay to request those things during the evaluation. The home care agency is committed to meeting all of your needs.

When you are selecting a home health aide, find out how much experience they have working with patients who are similar to your loved one. If your loved one suffers from dementia, it is best to have an aide with dementia experience as they have specific needs.

Finally, if the first home health aide does not work out, for whatever reason, do not give up on the idea of having the assistance of a home care agency. Having the perfect aide can alleviate much of your stress as a caregiver and provide your loved one with professional assistance that is truly helpful. The benefits of having professional assistance are many and it is worth persevering until you find the aide who works well with your loved one and family.
 

About Guided Living Senior Home Care Guided Living offers home health care services serving Plymouth, MA and the surrounding areas. Our mission is to assist our clients with improving quality of life, encouraging independence within their home and providing first-class care with respect, dignity, compassion and the highest ethical standards. We have incorporated great technology into the company like our FamilyCARES portal that gives families a real time look into their loved one’s care. One of our goals is to build trust and show accountability to clients and their families through transparency. We take care management seriously and each client has a dedicated Registered Nurse Care Manager that will supervise caregivers, perform regular in-home checks, and most importantly be available for clients and families to help navigate through tough questions and uncertainties during difficult times. To speak with a Registered Nurse Care Manager to learn more about our services call 508-927-1213 any time.