Florida Home Health Aide (HHA)

Home health aides or home caregivers care for clients who are recovering from illness, those with terminal illness, or children and adults with physical and mental disabilities in the clients’ home settings.

They work under the supervision of registered nurses in provision of personal care such as bathing, assisting with grooming and dressing. They will also assist the client with basic nursing care, including transferring from bed to chair and extremities exercises. They assist with medication, and nutrition.

Aide/caregivers also perform various housekeeping chores such as laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning. Some assignments allow the aide to take clients to their scheduled doctor's visits, to pick up prescriptions, and to take the clients to other places they wish to go. The home health aide is expected to look and act professional, be reliable, compassionate, cheerful, and must enjoy working with people. It is essential that the aide be able to work independently with little direct supervision. The care provided may require lifting, carrying, bending, and reaching.

The home health aide may care for the following types of clients: hospice patients; individuals with paralysis, stroke or heart disease; the elderly with mental disabilities such as Alzheimer's disease; or individuals with physical disabilities and long-term illnesses.

Most agencies provide training to home health aides if they have no previous experience. Training courses are usually two to three weeks long and focus on maintenance of a clean, safe environment, basic nutrition, basic nursing procedures such as taking and recording vital signs, infection control, recognition of emergencies, communication skills, personal hygiene, range of motion exercises, legal and ethical responsibilities, care of geriatric clients, bio-psychosocial support, and supervised home management. (Source: Florida Area Health Education Center www.flahec.org)