If you or your loved one are an aging senior, inevitably, you’ve thought about your options for your care moving forward. Not everyone wants to live in a retirement home or an assisted living facility; many choose to age at home. For seniors who choose to age at home, there are caregivers and Home Health Aides (HHAs) that can alleviate the burden of daily household activities and needs.
Below, we’ll discuss the differences between a home health aide vs a caregiver to determine how they affect the life of you or your loved one as they age at home.
What is a Home Health Aide?
Home Health Aides (HHA) help seniors living at home by assisting them in everyday tasks. HHAs tend to work with a smaller number of clients and work with them for longer periods of time, enabling them to form a companionship with their clients. Seniors aging at home significantly benefit from an HHA because the attention they provide reduces the chances of accidents, supports them in their daily lives, and provides services they need to reduce the stress of aging at home.
What is a Caregiver?
A Caregiver is a person or family member that provides care for a loved one or client. The duties of a caregiver are similar to that of an HHA and revolve around relieving the burden of everyday tasks from the client or loved one. This includes anything from basic housekeeping to mobility assistance and meal preparation.
Many family members choose to become caregivers for their aging parents or relatives to ensure their care needs get met.
Home Health Aide vs Caregiver
The difference between a Home Health Aide and a caregiver is the care services they provide. Home Health Aides pursue additional training, which enables them to provide additional medical services, such as monitoring your vital signs, offer medication reminders, and emergency response medical attention. While most HHAs perform similar duties to a caregiver, like meal preparation and bathing, some do not.
Duties
- HHA: Typical duties for an HHA include mobility support, transportation, meal preparation, housekeeping, laundry, bathing, incontinence care, and grocery shopping, to name a few. The day-to-day duties of an HHA depends upon the needs of their client. Their duties expand to provide medical assistance, but this requires an additional certification.
- Caregiver: Caregiver duties consist of anything from housekeeping and transportation to mobility assistance, transportation, and monitoring your health. Since caregivers are often family members, there is often assistance in all aspects of a senior’s day.
Training
- HHA: Those looking to become an HHA must complete several hours of hands-on training to show competency in the position. There is also an exam that’s administered by a registered nurse to test your knowledge.
- Caregiver: In alignment with the certification, there is necessary training to ensure the proper care and wellbeing of your client or loved one. The basic training covers communication skills, emergency procedures, basic skills for maintaining good hygiene, and other responsibilities. This training is great for people who take on the role of a caregiver for a family member, and it teaches them how to properly care for them as they age or deal with a condition like Dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Certification
- HHA: There is training and licensing involved in becoming an HHA. However, to be able to perform other medical duties, certifications like the Medication Aide Certification Exam (MACE) are necessary.
- Caregiver: To become a caregiver, there is a necessary certification course, but the length of the course varies depending on your state. Becoming a caregiver in Pennsylvania requires an eight hour certification course that covers the basics of caregiving, procedures, communication skills, protocols, and much more.
Home Care Agencies, HHAs, & Caregivers
Home Care Agencies, like JEVS Care at Home, have additional training and certifications that their HHAs and caregivers need to get in order to provide the best care for their clients. In addition, home care agencies provide valuable resources and support to their HHAs and caregivers, which makes maintaining certifications, scheduling visits, and providing care much easier.
Summary of Home Health Aide & Caregiver Differences
Home Health Aides and Caregivers both provide significant benefits to an aging senior’s day-to-day life. They provide similar services geared toward the betterment of an aging senior’s life and alleviating the stresses of everyday activities.
Working with a home care agency like JEVS Care at Home makes being a caregiver or HHA easier. We streamline the process of acquiring certifications and completing the necessary training in order for you to provide the best care possible for your clients. Our caregivers and HHAs also have access to an incredible support team to assist them in their everyday duties and great benefits.
