Personal care aides help seniors and disabled clients to perform everyday tasks, but do home health aides work full time or part time hours? Tasks home health aides assist with like bathing, preparing meals, and taking care of the house. Their responsibilities include assisting patients with their personal hygiene and driving them to appointments. Many home health aides work at least 40 hours per week, but part-time positions are also available.
What Are the Typical Working Hours?
Home health aides can choose to work full or part-time hours, depending on their schedules and the needs of their patients. At Parent Care, we employ care aides who want to work as much as possible as well as those who have other commitments and are therefore interested in a part-time position.
Why Do So Many Personal Care Aides Work Part-Time?
Home care jobs are physically and emotionally demanding. That’s why many home health aides work part-time. They want to enjoy a good work-life balance and also give their clients the care and attention they deserve.
Some personal care aides require a flexible schedule because they have other commitments. They might have to take care of their own family members, or they have a second job. Most home healthcare agencies allow employees to choose how many hours they work.
Is Overtime Common?
Many full-time aides work more than 40 hours per week because there is so much demand for assistance. In New York, there are more than one million elderly people, and many of them don’t want to live in nursing homes. That’s why home health caregivers are in demand in every borough.
Working overtime can be great because it allows you to boost your career and save up some money. However, you have to maintain a good work-life balance to prevent burnout. When you reach out to Parent Care, let us know if you’re interested in overtime work. We’ll make sure your schedule is balanced and doesn’t put your health at risk.
How to Maintain a Good-Work Life Balance As a Home Health Aide
Personal care is important because it allows home health aides to perform well at work and remain healthy in the long run. At Parent Care, we encourage all our employees to take good care of their bodies and get plenty of sleep. We provide our care aides with a competitive salary and great benefits, so they don’t have to worry about money and can focus their energy on being excellent caregivers.
How Much Does a Personal Care Aide Earn?
According to recent labor statistics, the average home health aide earns $17.50 in New York. This means that a person who works 40 or more hours per week has a salary of over $35,000 per year.
It’s important to remember that your wage depends on your experience, employment status, and age. When you get an entry-level home healthcare job, you might earn less than average. However, you can get a raise within one year if you perform well at work.
Do Aides Get Benefits and Paid Time Off?
Most home health aides get benefits and some paid time off, but it depends on the employment contract and the number of hours worked. Sometimes, care aides have to work on weekends or public holidays because patients still require assistance on those days.
What Qualifications Does a Home Health Aide Need?
According to the New York State Department of Education, home health aides have to complete a Health Sciences Core Curriculum course and gain some supervised clinical experience before they can work with clients. The daytime program takes just three weeks, but there are also evening or weekend classes available. They are suitable for candidates who are currently working, but they take longer.
The classes teach you how to provide care, perform housekeeping tasks, prepare meals, and assist patients with the Activities of Daily Living. You learn basic safety techniques, so you can help elderly and disabled clients. At the end of the training course, you receive a state certification that shows potential employers that you are a competent caregiver.
How Much Does the Training Process Cost?
Most training programs at community colleges charge around $500-1,000. They often require a deposit, but the full amount doesn’t have to be paid upfront. If applicants don’t already have a driver’s license and first aid training, they might have to pay extra for these qualifications. Typically, the entire training process costs under $1,000 and takes one or two months, so it’s accessible to almost everyone.
Is There a Competency Test?
If you don’t have a high school diploma, you might have to complete a competency test before starting your home health training. This is because you need to be able to communicate clearly, read medical records, and perform a wide range of tasks. You also need great organization skills because home health aides have busy, complex schedules.
Can a Home Health Aide Become a Registered Nurse?
A home health aide can’t become a registered nurse without undergoing extensive professional training. The nursing certification is much more time-consuming and expensive than the home health aide course.
What Are the Job Duties of a Home Health Aide?
Home health aides perform a wide variety of jobs. They visit most of their clients once a day and help them with their personal hygiene and meal preparation. Sometimes, they perform light housekeeping tasks and accompany patients on errands. The medical duties of a home health aide include recording vital signs, taking blood pressure measurements, and helping patients to take their medication.
Who Are the Patients?
Most clients are seniors who can no longer take care of themselves. They might have dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, or other conditions that prevent them from completing their Activities of Daily Living independently. Sometimes, home health aides work with younger people who have been in an accident or are struggling with a disability. Pediatric home health aides work with children who are either temporarily or permanently disabled.
Where Do Home Health Aides Work?
Almost all home health aides work at their clients’ homes. They spend their days driving around New York and visiting elderly and disabled people’s houses and apartments. Most home care visits take thirty to sixty minutes, but it depends on the client’s needs.
Can Anyone Become a Personal Care Aide?
Not just anyone can become a personal care aide. This job is only suitable for people who can assist patients with bathing and other physically demanding tasks. In New York, caregivers have to have a medical examination before they can enter employment. This helps to keep workers and patients safe.
What Skills Are Necessary?
Home health aides have to be organized, good at communicating, and willing to perform a wide variety of home care tasks. They have to be able to prepare meals, perform light housekeeping tasks, and assess a patient’s home to make sure it is safe for them.
Don’t worry if you don’t already have all these skills. During your certification program, you’ll learn many of them. Good employers also provide some training when you start to work with them. They might use apps and software to make it easier for you to stay organized, and they provide you with guidance on how to communicate with your patients.
What Is the Job Outlook?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal care aides will remain in high demand in the coming decade. At the moment, there are over three million health aide positions in the US, and the number is set to grow by 25% in the next few years. This is because there are millions of older adults in need of care. Family caregivers are struggling to meet their family members’ growing needs, so they are outsourcing home care work.
How to Find Open Positions in New York
It isn’t hard for home health aides to find employment in New York City. Several agencies connect aides to clients. Read through each employer’s online resources and the reviews on sites like Indeed and Glassdoor to find out whether you’d like to work there. Then, get in touch with suitable agencies.
At Parent Care, we aim to provide the best working conditions in the area. Don’t hesitate to call us if you’ve recently completed your home health aide certification. We’ll be more than happy to speak to you.
Home health aides can work full-time or part-time. In New York, there are plenty of open positions because personal care aides are in high demand. Get in touch with us at Parent Care or give us a call at 718-486-7100 to find out more about our jobs. We’re always in need of excellent aides, and we pay all our employees a high salary.
