If you live in Philadelphia and need a home health aide to care for a loved one, you will find no dearth of choices. Seniors usually prefer to live within the comforts of their home and a familiar environment, and for them, home health care is the best choice for all reasons. The same is true for someone who is recovering after a surgery or injury. Unless your doctor says an individual needs to stay in a hospital or nursing home, choosing personal health care Philadelphia is a viable choice. In this post, we are sharing more about what a home health aide can do for someone in need of care.
The basic roles
You would typically hire a home health aide when you cannot do things on your own. Roles include –
- Shopping groceries and supplies on request
- Accompanying the person to appointments and trips
- Preparing and planning meals
- Keeping up with the oral medication schedule
- Massaging patients when needed
- Keeping records of the patient and tracking vital signs as suggested by the physician
- Providing companionship and emotional support
- Helping with the activities of daily living
- Guiding patients with prescribed exercises
- Doing light household chores
As you may have guessed, home health aides don’t have a specific role for each patient. Instead, they work in a flexible manner, ensuring that an individual has the support they need to continue to live at home and independently.
Skills of home health aides
Because home health aides have to work with a wide range of patients and seniors, they are expected to have great interpersonal skills. All caregivers and home care aides are expected to have completed basic training and must have the necessary certifications. They are also required to have time management skills to get all things done in time. Caring for an individual who is vulnerable or is recovering is not always easy, and therefore, home health aides are required to be detail oriented and must keep an eye on medication schedules, seek help in times of emergency, and report all relevant concerns to the primary care physician. Moving older patients in and out of bed or helping with other chores may take considerable physical stamina too.
If you are working with a home health care agency for the first time, ensure that you discuss the qualifications and background of their caregivers in detail and don’t shy away from asking tough questions.
