Working w/ Home Health Agency

ncarolinagal · Oct 19, 2010

I got my cna certication back in June. I worked for LTC for a Month. Loved the work but was to strenous on me. (I'm 51) I started working for a home health agency and I love taking care of this lady. The pay is only 8.00 a hr and I drive 20 miles. I try to look at the pros of it... Its lighter work, more compassion and time caring. Its only 5 hrs a day. I'm hoping later to get more money b/c of the mileage. I had told them I needed more money so we will have to wait and see how that pans out.

Think about the pros and cons...I would love to know what state houlihan75 lives to earn that much for home health agencies.

Take care.

sunkissed75, CNA · Oct 19, 2010

Think about the pros and cons...I would love to know what state houlihan75 lives to earn that much for home health agencies.

I work for the Canadian Red Cross in Southwestern Ontario. I have noticed that we (Canadians) make a lot more as a PSW (personal support worker) than you do as HCA which is basically the same thing. Our scope of practice is identical. I think it's such a shame you guys aren't paid your worth. Is there a big difference in pay for you between LTC and home care?

ncarolinagal · Oct 19, 2010

There is not a big difference. In LTC you can start out at 9.80 on 2nd or 3th shift. I wish my back would have held out but LTC was just to hard. I needed more of assisted living. I applied to all of the assisted living centers in my area but no calls. Unemployement is very hard here... Ty for replying.

deewee · Nov 1, 2010

Home Health care...it can be good and it can be bad. I've been subjected to outrageous verbal abuse by family members and refused to go back to those clients. I've been scratched, pinched and kicked by some patients (I guess that can happen anywhere). The current case I am working is not going well. I am supposed to be taking care of the patient and her needs...I totally get that. But the other girl who cares for her has set a precendent of doing the patient's laundry, the husband's laundry (he works outside the home), feeding the dogs, giving the dogs their meds, brushing the dogs' hair 2X a day, doing ALL the housework in the home, picking up the dogs' poop outside around their pool...just absolutely everything as if it's her own home. Now I am expected to do the same. A LOT of what I am doing now has absolutely nothing to do with taking care of the patient. I think they need to hire a separate maid for some of this stuff and not expect a caregiver to do all that. I'm looking for a new job...

sweettiff4prez · Nov 11, 2010

I currently got my stna but right now im just working as a support specialist in a home health care agency. I think with home health care..it depends like someone else said ..on if its a good agency. To me there is no promises of hours. It varies. I had a client who had autism ..eventually his mother did not want services with the company anymore so my hours were cut. Some people leave and go..with the company.

I have had some bad experiences years ago I worked with this one elderly man who was very verbally abusive. At one point he called me a racial slur and told me to leave his house.

Theres been some good experiences as well just knowing im helping out others .

Also someone else on here mentioned the break of hours. A few clients I could only see 2 hours a day or 4 hours a day. They were all over the place in columbus . I feel like im driving a lot and spending more money on gas. Id like to find a stable job where its a set amount of hours a week again..but this will do for now. Im looking for stna/cna jobs too but some say you need experience.

sweettiff4prez · Nov 11, 2010

yep it is easy to get taken advantage of both by the agency and families. Clients expect you to clean their homes too which sucks (at least a lot of them in my experience). They complained if I didn't. And my client coordinator gave me all the HARD clients (the pain in the butts, or disgusting homes that were biological hazards). I thought that all the clients must be like that. And I didn't complain because I wanted the hours. But then when I quit, she told me "This is going to be hard to get all your shifts covered. You had all the clients that everybody else refuses to see". Man was i mad

Ive had this happen as well. They put me with a person that lived in a very very bad neighborhood. It was only 2 hours a day...35 minutes away. Thats a lot of driving to work for just 2 hours. Theres no way i was going to work there at night either with it being a pretty rough area. I guess no one else wanted to take that job so they asked me.

Ive also been in places that had disgusting homes as well and expected to clean. had one mother who told me to pick up her babys diaper that was on the floor. when i said i needed gloves she looked at me like i was nuts lol. Im sorry im not picking up someones diaper without gloves.

2ndyearstudent, CNA · Nov 14, 2010

Great questions - I've been a Home Health and Hospice Aide for a year now.

"I will be certified soon and I am trying to decide what avenue to take other than LTC." - I had to work in LTC for a couple years before my current employer would touch me.

"Please tell me what your day is like?" - I work casual/part time and have no typical day. I give the scheduler my availability and they call with my assignments daily.

"What are your responsibilities?" Everything a CNA does, along with cleaning/cooking/housekeeping if part of the client's Care Plan.

"Do they expect you to do work outside of your job responsibilites...like dishes, laundry, etc." - I don't care what they expect - I don't work outside of my job responsibilities. If dishes and laundry are part of the pt's Care Plan, I do them. If they are not, I don't.

"Do you see several clients in one day or do you care for one?" Most days I see several clients. I think my record is 8 in a day. Rarely I will see one. Sometimes I do respite care where the primary caregiver is gone for the day. Sometimes there are overnight shifts (you stay awake) but I don't do that very often.

"What should I look for in an agency?" You want an agency that has excellent support and training. You want an agency with established procedures and good, responsive, RNs working as Case Managers. If your agency just seems to "throw you out on your own" then find another one.

"Please give details of the worst case scenario of home health...and the best!" The worst case scenario at my job would be if the census fell so short they had no work for me. The best days are every other day.

Anything can happen in home health, good and bad. You expect that, so when "bad" things happen and you have to call the on-call Nurse or 911 or other client family members for assistance, that is just part of your job. Some days, people you are taking care of are dying right in front of you. This is not bad, but if you did not do everything in your scope of practice to help them as they pass away, that would indeed be bad.

The very worst thing that ever happened was when a pt with ALS started choking on thick secretions. I sat him up and gave him a few back blows and he got it up, but I was about two seconds from calling 911 and giving abdominal thrusts. He is DNR, but he definitely didn't want to leave the planet choking on a huge loogie.

t was scary but turned out as well as it could and I reported the incident to the Case Manager.

So that was bad that he choked but good we got it taken care of.

ICU_RN_BSN · Nov 14, 2010

i think home health can be good. if you can get with a good agency. you have to make sure they don't take advantage of you. don't let the families of people make you do things you know you shouldnt do. anyway good luck with it.

this so often happens its scary...its even scarier when your own boss has you doing things youre not licensed to do....Anyone....does yor boss make you pass meds (already set out in med tray) but still...is there some special rules for home health for CNA's that we can give our patients their meds?

ICU_RN_BSN · Nov 14, 2010

Home Health care...it can be good and it can be bad. I've been subjected to outrageous verbal abuse by family members and refused to go back to those clients. I've been scratched, pinched and kicked by some patients (I guess that can happen anywhere). The current case I am working is not going well. I am supposed to be taking care of the patient and her needs...I totally get that. But the other girl who cares for her has set a precendent of doing the patient's laundry, the husband's laundry (he works outside the home), feeding the dogs, giving the dogs their meds, brushing the dogs' hair 2X a day, doing ALL the housework in the home, picking up the dogs' poop outside around their pool...just absolutely everything as if it's her own home. Now I am expected to do the same. A LOT of what I am doing now has absolutely nothing to do with taking care of the patient. I think they need to hire a separate maid for some of this stuff and not expect a caregiver to do all that. I'm looking for a new job...

And wow a lot of this is happening to me too. We have a do-gooder on our crew...she volunteered to steam clean the whole upstairs so then my boss expected me to steam clean the basement...so not in my job description!!! That is not "light cleaning" at all...they need to hire someone for that stuff. I once had a client who made me clean out her garage..yes really. No longer working there obviously.

For the OP...if you get a good home to work in, your duties will be light cleaning..dishes, dusting, vacuuming. I cook for my patients 3x daily..sometimes we got get fast food or go out to eat and they usually pay (not most clients). I check their vitals, and all that. I have had clients paralyzed from the neck down so I use to use a mechanical lift to get him into seat and bed..transferring, turning, feeding, assisting with BM's....but as of now my pt has dementia so its really pretty easy and laid back..they have 24 hr care so I sleep there overnight. It just changes from pt to pt.

2ndyearstudent, CNA · Nov 16, 2010

And wow a lot of this is happening to me too. We have a do-gooder on our crew...she volunteered to steam clean the whole upstairs so then my boss expected me to steam clean the basement...

After a while this stuff doesn't even bother me, I just say "No way" and they can call the Case Manager if they want.

I have one client whose daughter is a complete OCD neat freak. The Care Plan includes light housecleaning, which is fine, but this particular woman thinks that floors should be scrubbed on hands and knees - not mopped.

"The other HHA gets on her hands and knees and scrubs", the client reported.

I replied, "Well I am certainly not doing that. If you get a mop and bucket, I would be happy to take care of the floor." She still hasn't bought a mop. She'd rather do it herself than have it done another way.

Another client's family stopped helping a blind client with diabetes use the bathroom. So when I got there to clean, there was bm all over the bathroom, the bed, sheets, and the client's clothes. I called the RN and the next visit the situation was taken care of.

If you have a good support system, taking care of problems like this is a breeze. If not, get out of there.

ICU_RN_BSN · Nov 16, 2010

wow you've been through it too for sure! Do you pass meds to clients?

muffinCNA15 · Nov 17, 2010

i am employed by a home care company, not the same as home health, but sometimes i do feel more like a maid as opposed someone who is there to help you with personal care.

my company recently got fed up with the cna's having to clean out peoples garages and do other familys laundry, so now we have a 10% limit on household chores. if you're there for 4 hours, you can only spend 10% of your time cleaning etc.

other than that, ehhh its okay. i mean you get the one on one care which is great. but sometimes its so boring.....