Learn About Home Health Aide, Home Health Aides Schools, Training, Jobs, and Careers

What is a Home Health Aide?
Some medical treatments are better done at home. There are many reasons for this. One of them could be lack of rooms at healthcare facilities. This will become more so as the baby boomer generation reaches elderly age. There are just not enough medical facilities to house the number of them that need medical care.

Another reason for using the home as treatment facility is because some patients prefer the comfort of their home. They are familiar with the surroundings and don’t have to deal with many strangers. This can be a plus in the recovery process.

When you reflect on the above reasons, you begin to understand the need for home health aides (HHAs). Simply put, HHAs take care of patients or the elderly at home and provide care beyond what family or friends can provide. In a typical day, the HHA will do such things as:

1. Take care of patient’s personal hygiene
2. Check blood pressure and temperature
3. Check patient’s respiratory rate
4. Check patient’s pulse
5. Check and change surgical dressing
6. Administer the doctor’s prescribed prescription
7. Help patients in and out of wheelchair
8. Help patients in and out of bed
9. Assist in physical exercises as prescribed by the physician
10. Run errands, like grocery shopping
11. Etc.

HHAs get their duties from doctors and nurses. They must be compassionate and able to provide emotional support to patients.

How to Become a Home Health Aide:
While there’s no basic educational requirement for this profession, we advise that you at least get a high school diploma or equivalent. You can get on the job training from facilities that are willing to train you. These can be hard to find.

We advise you to attend a school that has home health aide or patient care program. Such a program will last about 2 to 12 weeks. You will take classes in things like:

a. Home Health Aide Theory
b. Home Health Aide Clinical
c. Introduction to Vital Signs
d. Nurse Assisting Healthcare Skills
e. First Aid Procedure
f. Prevention Health Care
g. Resident Rights
h. Etc.

There is no required certification for HHAs. One can choose voluntary certification through the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC).

Home Health Aide Salary:
HHAs make $23,000 per year on the average. Some make as much as $29,000 per year. This is not bad for a career that does not require high school diploma and only requires training that takes 2 to 12 weeks to complete. Those that get on the job training will be earning money while they train.

Home Health Aide School:
If you are looking for the school to become HHA, we have the school for you. Everest University offers a program that qualifies one to become one. Their program is called patient care technician. You have nothing to lose if you check them out. You can do so by requesting for their free no obligation information through this link.

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