“Maintaining ranks of home health aides a growing concern” |
| Maintaining ranks of home health aides a growing concern Posted: 26 Sep 2010 04:23 AM PDT A certified home health aide may do many things in the course of the day — remind a patient to take medication, do routine skin care, monitor vital signs, help with exercises and under certain situations, prepare meals. All of that is in the job description set by the state Department of Health. Gardening isn't on the list. But Carmelita Ince had a patient who couldn't trim the shrubs, so she did it. "Whatever it takes," said the 58-year-old Rochester woman, who works for Visiting Nurse Service of Rochester and Monroe County. "If I can make the person happy, I do." Home health aides perform the most personal tasks for individuals unable to tend to their own needs. The wages are as low — about $8 to $9 an hour to start — as the demands are high. "It's not the type of job you do if you want to receive large sums of money," said Deletha Watson, who works for HCR Home Care of Rochester. "You have to be caring, compassionate, patient. All those things." Watson, 38, has been a home health aide for about eight years. "I find it very gratifying and rewarding knowing I have done a good job. I helped someone." Federal initiatives dating back several years have looked at how the nation will find, train and keep qualified workers. New York is ahead of many states because it already mandates that aides pass a 75-hour training curriculum. Carol A. Rodat is New York Policy Director for PHI, an advocacy group for direct care workers including family members and hired staff. She said that while quality training is crucial to quality care, so too are employment practices. "How do they behave toward the aides, how do they compensate them, how do they help them as they go out into the workplace? They're isolated. There's no direct supervision." Rodat also wondered how to recruit enough workers to meet the projected need. The Sage Commission, convened by the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency to determine the health needs of an aging population, is asking the same question. Among the objectives in a report released in June are getting more trained workers in geriatric health and proposing changes to the reimbursement system that would allow for more flexibility in paying for care. Sarah Kimball of Rochester started as an independent attendant when she left college to care for her fiancé, Michael Sullivan, after he was injured in a car accident. She also has cared for the grandmother of a family friend. She said an organized workforce would elevate the status of attendants, even though there are pros and cons to unions. "It gets out some of the people who shouldn't be there," the 27-year-old said. "There would be more screening. (An agency) would think about hiring someone and putting them in a union. They'd have to be pretty good because they'll be there forever." As much as she said she enjoys the work — "it sounds selfish but you feel good that you did something for someone" — Kimball said that she can't make it a career. She and Sullivan will be married in the fall, and at some point they want to buy a house. When Sullivan has recovered from his injuries, Kimball plans to return to school. "The pay just isn't enough to live on." Right now, the paycheck isn't why she does the job. "I know how it feels to have someone hurt or sick. You want someone you trust with them, who will take care of them and not treat them like a number." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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