I just wanted to share a quick post as I was walking into the office today on a rather warm Valentine’s Day. I began to think about my past career as a registered nurse working in the emergency department of a hospital and my current career as a business owner for a home health agency. I started to reflect on all the people I have met and their families and started to think of the rewards that a home health care agency provides. Off the top of my head, I thought of five that stood out to me.
Reward #1: The ability for the elderly to stay in the privacy of their own home and surroundings. This providing a happier experience for the elderly when they know they can receive assistance without having to leave their home.
Reward #2: The increase in independence for the elderly. Not only does this go hand in hand with the Reward #1 but it is the effect of what the elderly already want–to be independent. To be able to live independently and return to optimal health with some assistance.
Reward #3: The building of a community within a town. When our certified home health aides visit one of their patients, the community sees assistance being provided and it brings people together by becoming referrals. Towns are more aware of elderly needs and see the end result when assistance from a certified home health aide is implemented.
Reward #4: Growing paid opportunities on the rise. The home health care field is expected to increase by 24% or 4 million new jobs by 2018 while health care is consistently in the Top 10 of service related careers on the rise. So whether you are a home health aide, an elderly person looking for assistance, or an entrepreneur looking to start your own agency in home health care–there are many opportunities out there can help your needs.
Reward #5: The last reward is very dear to my heart and that is Changing Lives. No matter if a person who needs elderly assistance becomes your client or just an individual who needs questions answered–there is a life forever being changed. Whether giving out free information or providing home health services, the person’s life will forever be changed by the assistance being granted. That is the greatest reward in running a home health care agency.
1) Proper Clothing and Footwear 
2) Heating Adjustments
3) List of Emergency Numbers
4) Accessibility to Telephone or Cellphone
5) Proper Medication Stored Away
6) Food Shopping
7) Stormy Conditions
8. Mobility
9) Companionship
10) Check Ups
For those not living in hot climates and 75 degree weather, many can agree to the phrases “White Christmas”, “Winter Wonderland”, and “Jack Frost” as winter months brings cold temperatures, white snowflakes, and an increase for in-door activities. For the elderly who live at home and receive senior care from a home health care agency, winter months can become bearable and joyous filled. Exercising the following tips will help your senior and loved one prepare for the holidays and winter months ahead. It will also help your certified home health aide prepare for the days and holidays when they are not assisting your senior or elderly loved one.
Proper Clothing and Footwear
Be sure that the times you are not with your senior or loved one, that there is enough warm clothing stored and footwear with rubber non-slick soles are worn. Snow and ice are major reasons for slips and falls. Seniors over 65 are more prone to broken hips during this time due to slick conditions.
Heating Adjustments
Adequate heating temperatures should be monitored when a certified home health aide is with their elderly patient. In the event that a family member will not be present, a home health aide should set the heating temperature for the patient so that they are comfortable and able to change it if outdoor temperatures rise or lower.
Emergency Numbers
Elderly who have senior home care services should always have a list of emergency numbers visible in case of an emergency. Writing these numbers on a piece of paper and sticking them on a refrigerator door is essential should the patient need assistance during a time when their certified home health aide or family member is not present. As well, the numbers will serve as a method for communication should the patient’s family need to be notified of any emergencies.
Accessibility to Telephone or Cell phone
Equally as important as the last tip, a portable telephone or cell phone should be easily accessible for an elderly patient in case of emergency or to prevent injury when running into another room to answer a ringing telephone.
Proper Storage of Medication
If an elderly patient needs assistance taking medication, the certified home health aide should properly store it in a place where the senior will not confuse it with other medications or vitamins and consume erroneously. On the other hand, if a senior can adequately take their medications, storage should be in a place that is easily accessible and can be opened without assistance.
Sufficient Amounts of Food
If a certified home health aide provides services daily or a few times a week, ample amounts of food should be prepared or well stored for a senior to consume or lightly prepare themselves (i.e. remove from storage facility and place in microwave or on a plate) especially during the holidays. Some aides if schedule to be at a senior’s home on a holiday will sometimes take the day off and make up the hours. In this event and any event, a senior should be adequately prepared to consume food on their own.
Stormy Conditions
For areas where cold, wintry, blistery, and raining conditions are the norm in the winter months, proper preparation for your elderly patient or loved one is critical. Helping a senior with snow shoveling, salting of walkways, and preventing ice buildups before they begin will avoid slips, falls, and inaccessible routes in and out of the home.
Mobility
It’s important to keep an elderly patient mobile even in winter months. Doing so will increase blood flow and movement in legs, healthier lives, and success in aiding the senior to optimal health. With many individuals, winter months increases the amount of time spent indoors in front of a television or computer and less time walking or stretching. Certified home health aides and family members should make an effort to keep mobility up in their patient or loved one at least twice a week.
Companionship
When a senior does not have family that lives near by or see them often, it is often the visits from a home health aide that an elderly patient looks forward to receiving. Aides can help provide companionship especially during times around the holidays. It is very important as well to keep an eye on a senior during the holidays because it is a time when seniors can become depressed as well. According to Mental Health America, more than two million of the 34 million Americans age 65 and older suffer from some form of depression – and during the holidays this number climbs. Many factors contribute to why seniors may not view the holidays as a time of celebration. The holidays for the elderly may bring up memories of friends who are deceased, loved ones who live far away and cannot visit or the inability to be around others during holiday festivities.
Signs to be alert for that can contribute to holiday depression amongst seniors whether they live with family, on their own, or in an assisted living long-term care facility are:
• Increased Irritability
• Lack of Personal Care or Hygiene and Sleep
• Irresponsible Behavior
• Loss of interest in socializing
• Decrease in Appetite
Fortunately, depression is a treatable—including holiday depression. Family, friends and assistance from home health aide can diminish their elderly patient and loved ones’ feelings of despondency. For more severe cases, the help of a professional should be sought out.
Checkups
Whether you are a certified home health aide or family member, check up on your senior patient or loved one takes minutes and will provide the assurance that an elderly person needs to feel appreciated and cared about. Whether it is to say Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy New Year—one phone call can bring a smile to a senior’s face and the reassurance that they are okay and doing well.
Following these tips will provide a greater communication and better preparation for the elderly being cared for, the certified home health aide, and the senior’s family. Happy Holidays!
If you or someone you know has a parent or loved one who needs additional in home care,
you may ask yourself where do you turn. You may even ask yourself if you should get a
certified home health aide from a licensed agency or a reliable family member or friend.
Before you decide on taking the latter, there are some important checkpoints you must
take into consideration.
- Accountability of the certified aide coming to the patient’s home on a timely
and scheduled basis. With a certified agency, this is required and a family friend or relative can take this lightly. - Flexibility of any changes that may arise due to doctor appointments,
vacations, hospital visits. At an agency, many certified aides are aware of changes
that can occur in schedules. Will a family friend be so understanding? - Private Pay and what will it cost the family of the patient if they cannot receive
assistance from the government? There are agencies out there who do take on private
patients allowing the family of that patient enough days in the week for assistance
without the approval of the government. - Medicaid/Medicare and if the patient will be eligible to receive help from the
government with the possibility of being denied services. - Loyalty from the agency and certified home health aide in assuring the patient
gets the best care for their health. - Consistency from the certified home health aide and the duties they will fulfill.
- Security from the agency and certified home health aide that they can be trusted
and the patient feels safe in their presence. - Expertise from a professional agency that will diagnose the patient and their needs
accordingly to receive the best care for optimal health. - Return to Optimal Health as the final goal when hiring an agency. A patient wants
to progress with their health, not fall back into a regressed state. An agency willing to
provide the best care for your loved one with exemplify this consistantly.
It is possible that to ask a family friend or relative to assist your loved one, but be mindful
that they most likely will not be certified and have no formal training or even a background
check on their services. A person certified has gone through hours of mandated training and
scenarios of any type of patient.
Those are some tips on what needs to be considered when researching a licensed agency
whose business it to properly train home health aides and a potential friend with no
expertise in this field. Even more so, we are talking about an organization that is in the
business of providing care to you for short or long (most often) term, as far as your needs
increase and if the medical situation worsens.
Once you have researched an agency that properly fits your needs, other questions may
start to arise.
What if my certified home health aide goes away on vacation or gets sick?
Licensed agencies can find substitutes or replacements for you so you never have to
worry about if your loved one will be okay.
Will the same certified home health aide be at the home? Can I request a
different aide to fit my loved one’s needs?
Licensed agencies offer you the same home health aide, provided that is what you want.
Licensed agencies work to make the match between you and the home health aide as
perfect as possible — so the needs of the patient are understood, the right language is
spoken,the right foods can be cooked and the right respect for customs and preferences
is shown. Licensed agencies are in the business of satisfying you, the customer. They
don’t want to lose you, so they will work very hard to accommodate your needs.
Who oversees the process of placing a certified home health aide with my
loved one?
Licensed agencies assign a registered nurse to each patient, and that nurse supervises
the aide, monitors the patient’s condition and medications, confers with the physician
and is an information resource for you.
But perhaps most importantly, licensed home health care agencies provide you with
highly trained expert aides who know how to do their job well before they enter your
home. They don’t learn at your expense. It is very important to look into all resources
to find out all that a home health care agency can offer you to assure you will receive
the best care necessary.