According to Market and Market blog site, the global home health care market will eventually reach to over $250 billion dollars, which is a huge jump from 2021. As a result, I am noticing a lot of home health care agencies popping up and looking to fill positions. The reason for the finding is very simple. More terminally ill patients are opting to stay at home during those final days. And disabled, and elderly patients who need supervised care are also staying in their home. Well at least in my experience the ones who family has time to handle the business with the agencies. In addition to the clients opting to be in home, instead of an assisted living facility, nursing home or hospice. The products that they will need, that once was only available in the facilities, are rising the cost of care astronomically. I wanted to an Independent care professional, and not having to be on anyone’s schedule but mine. So, my home health care journey started through several agencies. Then after a few years of the different turns of events. I met several clients that needed their family members attended to at home. When assigning a home health care aide in your home or your family member’s residence. Whether it is from an home health agency or word of mouth. You need to make sure they are at least registered with the Health and Senior Services of your state. Even if the person is private and Independent contractor, you want to make sure they have some kind of experience. Because if something happens to your family member, they will be left there not knowing what to do. There is the Safety Registry, that sends out reports to the employer or private client, who has hired someone in their homes. These reports tell them what is on the home health aides record. The five things that can be found on a Safety Registry report:
- Report of negligence
- Abuse
- Sexual abuse
- Children abuse
- Job abandonment
This is just a short list, but it helps when it comes to finding the right person to care for your loved ones. What are the main reasons that you may need a home health care aide?
- The doctor might send a terminally end patient home due to end stage of a cancer diagnosis. And there is just nothing they can do for them.
- You are busy with your family or work. So, the doctor has authorized that someone is around the patient at all times. This could be due to fall per cautions, choking risk or dementia.
- You’d figured out that being at home is safer than putting your frail loved one in a nursing home. With so many patient care reps coming and going, you want them in the best of care.
- Like I mentioned dementia, dementia is a debilitating memory disorder, that robs the brain of its functions over time. So, without brain function, your love ones needs 24-hour care. And tends to go back to their younger days and totally out of it most times. So, it is best to get a home health care professional in the home.
I do speak a lot about dementia, mainly because when I taking my nursing clinical, I had to do 250 credit hours at a mental institution. And what it taught me was so valuable now. When I was young I hated it, because I always thought these people weren’t sick, but faking it to get checks. However, as a full grown person, I am well aware that that is not true. I have had several patients with Alzheimer/Dementia, and I must say, what an experience. Some of these people have stories to tell, even though they can’t remember their oldest son’s name. In addition, some have lived so long, that they have forgotten that their spouses. It could be that they have died or maybe still around them, but they just don’t remember them. Celebrity chef B. Smith was a prominent reality television chef and producer, and the onset of dementia sent her life into a spiral mess. She was still healthy and very vibrant, she just was losing her mental functioning. Her husband chronicled her condition online and on television, but her fans were enraged. Because he bought another woman into the home and rumors were flying like Eagles. I want you to think long and hard when searching for a home health care agency. You need to decide on their experience as well. Do they have the proper staff for the proper care of your loved one? Like an Registered nurse can be expensive for 8-24 hours care. An RN is always best at home care, when you need someone with cancer, IV and Infusion care, to be there every 4 hours of the day. If your loved one has dementia, depressed or lonely, then you may want to just hire a regular nurse aide or maybe an Licensed Practical nurse. Also, if a patient is on hospice at home, the best course of action is to get someone who is caring and attentive. I would advise with hospice/palliative care, that you seek an home health agency with experienced handling hospice’s protocol. The reason I say this is, from experience I actually worked in a Hospice center. And we were so short staffed that they had to seek an agency to fill in the gaps. And I must say the results were not great. You had workers coming in from out of nowhere, caring for terminally sick people. They were smelling like smoke and outside. And were not very professional. When a person is dying, you have to be very tenderly with them. They need someone who is happy and aware of their plight and willing to listen to them, when they do speak. And not someone that unprofessional and uncaring and only wanting a paycheck. I do see that a lot in my days of agency work. They want to get paid and care less about the patient. Be very careful especially when bringing strangers in your homes to care for your prized possessions, your LOVED ONES! More: The average Certified Nursing Assistant salary in Saint Louis, MO is $33,729 as of September 26, 2022, but the range typically falls between $30,740 and $37,245. References: https://www.indeed.com/career/home-health-aide/salaries/St.-Louis–MO https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/02/24/808760806/b-smith-restaurateur-and-lifestyle-icon-dies-at-70-of-early-onset-alzheimers References: https://facty.com/conditions/alzheimers/10-causes-of-alzheimers-disease/?style=quick&utm_source=adwords&adid=513172579140&ad_group_id=120960416295&utm_medium=c-search&utm_term=dementia&utm_campaign=FH-USA-Search-Dementia-Symptoms-Desktop&gclid=Cj0KCQjw48OaBhDWARIsAMd966C2fvtqhLPMJI5pYxFfKVb2qQgXgWUpxyPluMk6Ox7jz5mIczWdxT8aArrWEALw_wcB