What type of assistance can I expect from a Home Health Aide?

There are many health service providers who can provide a Home Health Aide for taking care of the person suffering from some ailment. You have to find out from the local hospitals or clinics or nursing homes about this and they can give you the contact of such agencies who are providing such help on payment basis.

Home Health Aide should not be confused with a nurse. But he will work under a nurse or a doctor as directed by them. He will not be able to give injections etc but take the patient to the clinic if so required. Once directed by the nurse or doctor, he will give medicine to the patient and take all sort of personal care.

The Home Health Aide will generally be responsible for -
1. Helping the patient in bathing and grooming .
2. Getting the patient dressed comfortably.
3. Take the patient to outside may be on a wheel chair.
4. Take the patient to the doctor whenever required.
5. Report the progress of the patient to the doctor on the next visit.
6. Giving the prescribed medicines in time to the patient.

Home health aide provides supportive care to the seniors when assistance is required. And you have heard right that they provide nursing and personal care to persons or post operative patients at their homes. They provide some basic assistance:
1. The basic role of a health care aide is to monitor the overall health of patient.
2. They also support in exercise of patient.
3. They helps patients by personal care services like bathing, dressing, in using toilet etc.
4. They also helps by providing laundry and other housekeeping services.
5. Sometimes they may help in preparation of meal for patients.
6. They also get patient trained for used of different techniques and equipment for personal hygiene.
7. They also teach family members that how to do care like lifting, walking, eating of a patient?

As far as, matter of trust is concerned, they are usually licensed health care practitioner like registered and certified nurse, licensed practical nurse, physical therapist, speech therapist, dietician, or occupation therapist etc.
Some times they may be non licensed non medical health care giver.
So it is suggest, use the service of licensed/ registered home health aide service.

Home Health Aide would work closely to improve the health condition of the patient on payment basis. His role would be just like any family - member anxious for the overall well being in case of health issues.
He is having different responsibilities in this connection and some of his responsibilities are listed below-
1) He would collect all the relevant reports from the Pathological - laboratories and other connected reports such as X- Ray, CT scan of different parts of the body as suggested by the Doctor and present the same before the attending Doctor for his final evaluation.
2) He would take care of providing medicines to the patient in different timings as suggested by the Doctor.
3) In the further follow - up with the Doctor, he would reveal the progress or otherwise of the patient, so that further initiative can be taken by the attending Doctor.
4) He would help the patient in his bathing and getting him dressed properly.
5) He would take him to Hospital and if required, he would help him in the process of wheel chair.
6) He may provide meals to the patient as recommended by the Dietician/ attending Doctor.
Such an assistance may prove to be boon for the family - members and patients especially the family - members cannot attend on the patient due to paucity of time because of their related jobs.

Yes. You are correct. There are many organisations and service providers who provide Home Health Aide. They provide this service round the clock and they will deputy the personnel as required. They provide not only home health aide but they provide qualified nurses also who will do all required services including injections also. Instead of hiring an individual you can obtain the help from the organisations so that if there is any problem from the individual you can deal with the organisation. There will not be any problem and you can rely on them.

The following are the services they provide:

1. Post-surgery patients who stay at home can get assistance from them in occupational and physical therapy
2. They can arrange visits of highly skilled professionals trained in making use of medical equipment and perform therapies.
3. The persons who will be deputed to the houses can provide health care to meet the needs of the patients professionally. They can attend to emergency preparation, infection control etc.
4. They will be well trained to assist the patient and they will adapt themselves to suit the needs of the individual
5. The expenses may even be less than hospital inpatient expenses.
6. If we require they can provide Special services.
7. They can supplement the family caretakers in all services and responsibilities.
8. The visits of the patient to the hospital will get reduces.
9. A patient at home with the services of these people will recover more rapidly and feels comfortable
10. They will take care of all the needs of the patient and in some cases, they may help in other household works also.
11. The patient as well as his family members will be more comfortable and have a peace of mind.
12. Hospital stay will be avoided by the efficient services provided by these people at home.
13. Giving timely medicines to the patient as directed by the doctor, getting the tests done as suggested by the doctor and referring the reports to the doctor and monitoring the condition of the patient continuously and reporting them to the doctor are also the works of these people.
14. They will monitor BP and sugar levels.
15. They will take care of wounds and they will provide all the required help and they will do the dressing of the wounds.
16. They will entertain the patients well by reading books for them and reading newspapers etc.
17. They will help the patient in having the meal and assist them suitably for attending their natural calla.
18. The cleanliness of the place will be maintained well by them.
19. They will provide food timely and as suggested by the doctor.
20. They will also attend the patient in all their activities and see that they will be comfortable.

Health Aide are one who cares for the people who are with disabilities ,suffering from chronic diseases or with age related problems

Usually they take up following activities for comforting the patient

1. They ensure that the patient takes medications in time.
2. They accompany the patient for doctor visits
3. They help them with bathing and grooming activities
4. They ensure the patient's timely food
5. They help the patient for regular exercises
6. They usually be like a friend and try to keep the patient engaged with various activities when the patient is feeling low


While you hire a health aide ensure you check with them if they would be comfortable and confident to manage the conditions of the patient

Health aide is the best kind of service that is provided to the patients or old people who need medical as well as moral support to cope with the ailment. When we think of health aid, the first thing that comes to mind is a well educated, experienced and helpful nurse (Male or female) as they are called the angels wearing white to take care of people suffering from any diseases. There are many reputed hospitals and even agencies that provide good and active health aid persons (nurse - male or female) on a daily, weekly or monthly rate for 8hour/10hour or 12 hours duty. The facilities like food, accommodation and other incentives need to be worked upon directly with the hospital, agency or the nurse.

The activities that they perform under their care are:
i) Visit the doctor along with the patient at all times.
ii) Keep track of all their medical reports and medical history like allergic to certain food, medicines, etc.
iii) Monitor Food intake and diet as per the requirement.
iv) Provide medicine and exercise on time.
v) Keep a schedule for every activity that promotes faster recovery.
vi) Take care of every activity of the patient like walking, bathing, cloth changing, exercise, stool, urine, changing the bed, etc.
vii) They monitor the BP, Sugar, Cholesterol if required according to the requirement.
vii) They keep friendly relations with the patient that helps them to relax and open-up which helps better improvement.
ix) They will help the patient as per the patient requirement like watching TV, listing to music, playing some games, surfing, etc.
x) They also provide accu-pressure and physiotherapy if required as per the requirement and wellness of the patient.

Home Health Aide are something in the nature of a nurse but are not as qualified as a professional nurse. They have a little training of managing the patients in their homes where there is required a continuous help to them for bathing, changing cloths, feeding, taking for walk if they are able to do so, entertain them through the available gadgets like TV or radio etc. These patients are generally elderly and sometimes very demanding so the job of a Home Health Aide is not so easy and requires a lot of involvement with the patient. The family hires them for giving the full comfort and attention to the patient. They have to do a lot of pursuing with the patient as sometimes the patient will refuse to eat or ask the helper to call someone without any work. The sentimental requirement of the patients are more difficult to handle for the Home Health Aide than the physical needs.