Home Health Aide Requires You to Know How to Drive

Chanise09, ASN, RN · Jun 12, 2012

You need to have a drivers license for home health because 1. You have to drive to the clients house and 2.on occasion you may take a client to the grocery store or pharmacy as errand and you need to be insured of course. Don't lie on your resume you never know when a company will actually check into your experience and when they find out you lied you definitely won't get hired. Don't give up hope though,I was in your spot at one time it's extremely frustrating but don't give up!!! *HUGS* Good luck to you!!

sebig001 · Jun 12, 2012

You need to have a drivers license for home health because 1. You have to drive to the clients house and 2.on occasion you may take a client to the grocery store or pharmacy as errand and you need to be insured of course. Don't lie on your resume you never know when a company will actually check into your experience and when they find out you lied you definitely won't get hired. Don't give up hope though,I was in your spot at one time it's extremely frustrating but don't give up!!! *HUGS* Good luck to you!!

I wasn't going to lie. I said IT MAKES me want to lie because it is really frustating that I can not get a job. Thanks for clarifying.

RedhairedNurse2Be · Jun 12, 2012

With HHA jobs some of the duties are driving clients around to run their errands and help with shopping, and taking them to appointments. A bus pass would not work for this job. Many companies want you to own the car, have insurance coverage.

Skayda · Jun 12, 2012

I have applied to endless jobs for a CNA position but have not been able to get one. I applied to a Home Health Agency that required me to know how to drive. I do not know how to drive, nor do I have a car. I am currently learning how to drive because of this issue. What does me driving have to do with providing resident care? I am so confused, and sad at the moment. Its been 5 months since I have had my CNA and I have not been able to land even one interview or a call back. What am I doing wrong? I am currently volunteering at a hospital. I am starting nursing school in Fall 2012, and I wanted to be able to land a job before then. Can anyone provide any suggestions to me. This just makes me want to lie on my resume about the experience I have, it seems that is the only thing that is preventing me from getting a job.

I know how you feel. I'm a non-driver as well. I get panic attacks whenever I've tried to learn so I just gave up years ago and have relied on public transet and my boyfriend for years. I have worked through agencies that would have perferred me to be a driver but worked around it cause they were so understaffed and put me in places where I didn't have to go anywhere once I was there and the few times a client needed to be taken somewhere the agency sent over a car for us (this one lady wanted to go to Sheri's restaurant for dinner every night! And one middle aged recovery from cancer woman was still legally able to drive herself places so she would actually drive us around to the places she wanted to go to!) I look for jobs were I don't have to go anywhere once I am there like in an Adult Family Home, like my current job. The owner does all the shopping and family members and/or a medical shuttle-taxi takes them to and from appointments.

caliotter3 · Jun 12, 2012

You would need to know how to drive in order to get to the client's house and in those situations where you would be driving for the client. Some agencies will require you to drive the client, while others will forbid it. Also, some agencies want you to have your own transportation because they don't want you to have the excuse that you had no way to get to work. I would get a driver's license so that you can get the job. Then, if you don't want to drive clients around, be specific in telling a future employer that you only want cases where you will be working in the home, no driving involved. It is ultimately your business how you get to and from work. The employer need never know that you don't use a car if you can manage to get to and from work by some other means. People have done home health using the bus system. It is possible. Good luck.

dcfashionista · Jun 13, 2012

With my HHA I had to do lots of driving and my clients family thought I was there to drive them also. I am so glad that job ended.

lbmRN2014, ADN · Jun 16, 2012

Yeah it kind of sucked that I have to run all these errands for the client in my own personal car with the gas the I purchased with my own money and did not get reimbursed for gas mileage from the agency.

tazmom · Jun 16, 2012

I work as a HHA and don't drive at all. I take public transportation and walk to my client's homes. I will not transport people in my private car if I have one. Too much liability if something happens.

chicaner · Jun 16, 2012

In Oklahoma a HHA doesn't have to use their own vehicle to transport clients in. The agency I work for states that we don't use our personal cars for that purpose, we use the clients car to go because they carry the insurance that covers the driver. Needless to say, I didn't like the home health cases where I had to drive this one lady around, she would always want to go to the grocery store about an hour before I was due to leave. I was constantly running over time just because we had to go to the grocery store...like her two adult children and a grandchild that was in college couldn't have gone or taken her I guess. Drove me nuts. If you work on staff somewhere though I have never found a place that required a drivers license to work on staff. The only reason they ask to see a drivers license is for the W4 paperwork. And if you have a copy of your birth certificate that trumps the license and they don't have to see your social security card. That's been my experience. FWIW

tyvin, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2012

In Oklahoma a HHA doesn't have to use their own vehicle to transport clients in. The agency I work for states that we don't use our personal cars for that purpose, we use the clients car to go because they carry the insurance that covers the driver. Needless to say, I didn't like the home health cases where I had to drive this one lady around, she would always want to go to the grocery store about an hour before I was due to leave. I was constantly running over time just because we had to go to the grocery store...like her two adult children and a grandchild that was in college couldn't have gone or taken her I guess. Drove me nuts. If you work on staff somewhere though I have never found a place that required a drivers license to work on staff. The only reason they ask to see a drivers license is for the W4 paperwork. And if you have a copy of your birth certificate that trumps the license and they don't have to see your social security card. That's been my experience. FWIW

In my state you must show the ss card with a birth certificate in order to work. There's no reason that people who don't drive can't get a state ID. You need some type of photo ID in order to be licensed, get on a plane, open a bank account, etc... least wise that's how it is where I'm from.

sebig001 · Jun 18, 2012

I work as a HHA and don't drive at all. I take public transportation and walk to my client's homes. I will not transport people in my private car if I have one. Too much liability if something happens.

Which state do you work in?