For many people who are reaching their final years, be it because of a terminal illness, a debilitating injury, or just simply old age, home health care can be the perfect way to ease gently out of the world. Home health care providers, such as those who have gone through STNA training, can give such people a level of comfort that simply cannot be found in the vast majority of hospital setting in the United States, as hospitals, as nice and state of the art as they may be, are never a comparison to the comfort of the home. As home health care providers can give the same palliative care that a hospital would, it is often the far more ideal option. And on top of this, home health care can even be used in cases where someone is not necessarily dying but is no longer able to physically care for themselves. In cases of severe and disabling injury, such as an accident that leads to the victim’s permanent paralysis, home health care can allow the patient to live and return to as normal a life as possible.
But those who provide home health care services primarily do so for patients and clients who are considered to be elderly, with the vast majority of people who receive daily help from home health aides over the age of sixty five. And nearly thirty five million home health care providers such as the home health aide, are treating at least one patient who is over the age of fifty on a regular basis – and most will treat more than one patient of an advanced age. The home health care industry is on the rise, growing by nearly a million home health professionals between the year of 2008 and the year of 2018, our current year. A large reason for the success of this industry, which earned more than ninety billion dollars in revenue in 2017 alone, is simply that more people are in need of home health care than ever before. This can be attributed to the fact that people are living longer than ever before in history, thanks to advances in modern medicine as well as lifestyle changes that allow for better health and, therefore, a longer life. In fact, data shows that the total number of people in the United States who will live past the age of sixty five has grown by more than twenty five percent – a whole fourth – in recent years. Even more important than that, the average person who is of relatively good health at the age of sixty five has, on average, a life expectancy of just over eighteen more years to live, an astronomical jump in life expectancy when compared to years in the past.
If you are interested in having a career as a home health aide, you will need to take a number of classes to properly prepare yourself for the job as well as the responsibilities that naturally come along with it. For instance, taking a CPR class is often essential to be a home health aide. On top of this, many trained home health aides have gone through nursing assistant classes (CNA classes) and earned their title as a certified nursing assistant. Even more are likely to be certified as nurses and even better equipped to work as a home health aide in houses all throughout the country of the United States. There are many duties that a home health aide must face, from the administration of medicine to help with physical therapy exercises to help with conducting basic daily tasks. For instance, more than ninety five percent of such patience will need some level of help with the process of bathing, and nearly ninety percent need a significant amount of help with both transitioning in bed as well as transitioning out of bed.
From the elderly population to the terminally ill, home health care is becoming a hugely popular way to maintain a sense of comfort and ease and live outside of a hospital or nursing home facility. Home health care is a growing field.
