If you enjoy helping people, then becoming a home health aide (HHA) just might be the right career for you.
HHA’s help people who otherwise might have problems performing simple day-to-day tasks, such as bathing, dressing, and completing daily hygienic rituals. HHA’s play an important role in helping people stay in their own homes by assisting with activities of daily living (ADLs). These activities include, but are not limited to, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and even grocery shopping.
What to Expect
While undergoing training, you will learn the proper techniques involved in personal care and home management. Training will also focus on dealing with the patient’s family, proper meal preparation, how to assist patient’s with social activities, and healthy and safe housekeeping methods.
HHA training should also include simple legal and ethical practices in order to provide the best care possible.
Many companies in the Brooklyn area are looking for qualified and properly trained HHA’s. It’s important when you start out in this rewarding career to find the training that is best for you.
What to Look For
Whether you want to go to a training center or take free online courses, be sure that the training provider has been certified by the NY State Education Department or the NY State Department of Health in Brooklyn.
The State of New York requires all HHA training programs to include classroom and supervised practical training. The program must offer a minimum of 75 training hours, including 16 hours of supervised practical training.
The program must include 40 hours of home-care training and 35 hours of health-related duties. This means your training must consist of learning about all of the duties involved in being an HHA, as well as actual time practicing those duties under the careful supervision of an approved Nurse Instructor.
Supervised practical training means training must take place in a skills laboratory, a patient’s home or some other health-care setting. All potential HHAs must demonstrate health-related knowledge while helping individuals.
The approved Nurse Instructor will directly supervise all candidates during this phase of training.
Understanding Your Responsibilities
The role of an HHA is often critical to the independence, well-being, and freedom of their clients. That’s why it is so important to receive the best training available. The right training is the key to your client’s success.
HHA-education providers in the State of New York must include training in the following areas: core values; orientation to health-related tasks; performing simple measurements and tests; diets and meal plans; assisting with an exercise program; and assisting with the use of prescribed medical equipment supplies and devices.
Core values focus on the dignity of clients, respecting diversity, and the benefits of a therapeutic relationship. HHA students must learn the importance of helping clients to maintain autonomy and control. They must learn to respect a client’s preferences, routines, and limits.
They will also learn how to maintain a client’s privacy and confidentiality, and provide care in a compassionate manner.
What You Will Learn
During the orientation to health-related tasks, students will learn how to help their clients stay safe in their own homes. Students will also learn the importance of helping their clients to stay independent, function at the highest possible level, and lead fulfilling lives.
While learning to perform simple measurements and tests, students will be taught to take blood pressure and temperature readings, as well as accurately monitor pulse and respiratory rates.
Student will also learn how to assist in the preparation of diets and meal plans. This will include planning healthy meals, making the right food choices, preparing shopping lists with the clients, and buying food.
When learning to assist with a prescribed exercise program, students will focus on the muscular system, the cardiovascular system, and the respiratory system. Students will also learn about skin and skeletal health. The importance of healthy weight maintenance will also be emphasized, and students will learn their roles in helping clients stick to a prescribed exercise program.
Students will also be trained in assisting with the use of prescribed medical equipment, supplies, and devices. For example, students will be taught proper skin care for those with special needs; they will learn to assist in dressing and bandage changes; and they will learn how to assisting with ostomy care.
Students will also learn about prescribed equipment, supplies and devices that some of their clients may use and need help with. They will what certain equipment, supplies, devices, and treatments are used for.
They will learn about the role of a health care worker in assisting with the use of such equipment, as well as the impact these devices have on a patient’s independence. Students will be also taught safety precautions when using equipment used for mobility, as well as other devices.
Once HHA’s have been properly trained in a classroom or online setting, as well as actual health-care facilities, they will provide one of the most important roles in their client’s life. They will help their clients lead long and fulfilling lives, while maintaining their independence and dignity.
Other Important Things to Remember
It is the role of an HHA to ensure their clients live long and healthy lives. The proper training and the right training facility are critical to that role. Before embarking on this incredibly important career, be sure to find an education-provider that has been approved by the NY State Education Department or the NY State Department of Health in Brooklyn. Both websites offer information on accredited programs and providers that meet the state’s requirement for all HHAs.
For a complete list of Home Health Aide Training Programs approved by the New York State Department of Health and/or the New York State Education Department Home, go to https://www.health.ny.gov.