A home health aide, or Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), provides direct care to the clients served. These medical professionals work under a licensed nurse or therapist and are well-suited to seniors who are not ready for skilled nursing but need more than the services of a companion. Typically, home health clients are the elderly or individuals living with chronic disabilities or illnesses.
A home health aide can help improve a senior's quality of life in six ways.
1. Assists With ADLs
Part of living independently is tending to ADLs, or activities of daily living, like bathing, grooming, dressing, and using the bathroom. Home health aides are able to assist with these tasks, preserving the senior's autonomy in their own home or residential community.
In some instances, this may include using mobility equipment or aids, such as lifts or slings, when helping and transporting the senior.
2. Provides Light Housekeeping
Part of aging in place, or aging at home, is overseeing and tending to a home which includes some degree of housekeeping and laundry. A home health aide can assist with the daily tasks that make a difference in the resident's life, like taking out trash, cleaning the bathroom, or doing a load of wash. A tidy and clean environment is a healthier place to live.
3. Helps Prepare Meals
Some home health aide providers also assist with meal preparation, which can help the client overcome any hurdles to nutritious eating, like rides to the store or the ability to stand and cook.
The home health aide may also provide some food-prep, getting healthy options on-hand for the senior to simply heat and eat at mealtime.
Furthermore, many home health aides may offer companion care to run errands, like shop for groceries.
4. Gives Medication Reminders
While a home health aide has limited responsibility when it comes to patient medications, they do serve as a great way to encourage and remind clients about taking their medication.
The home health aide is also in the perfect position to share crucial information with the senior's providers about medication management, needs, or issues, serving as a go-between in many cases. The home health aide may observe and monitor the patient's response to med changes or side-effects.
5. Assists in Infection Control
One of the hidden hazards for seniors or those living with disabilities is infection; it can debilitate and kill an otherwise healthy individual when left untreated.
Home health aides have been trained in infection control and infectious disease management. They are likely experienced at coping with MRSA, C-Diff, and other diseases that the elderly, house-bound, or hospitalized patients are prone to. They can not only help keep the patient healthy and infection-free, but also strive to keep the environment clean of pathogens that could cause problems.
6. Provides Social Interaction
Maybe the most important role of a home health provider is the social interaction and engagement that they provide to seniors. Since aides often work with the same seniors for months or years, they establish a relationship that can be therapeutic for the client. This proves particularly beneficial for seniors and shut-ins that have transportation hurdles and don't see others often.
Often, a medical social worker works in conjunction with home health aides and the entire treatment team. With the help of a home health aide, the medical social worker can help their clients overcome conditions and improve their quality of life in some instances.
There are numerous benefits to putting a support system in place for a senior that includes home health aides. To learn more, talk to the professionals at Redi-Nurse, and glean what aging in place looks like for your loved one.
