What Makes a Great Home Health Aide

Do you face the Sunday blues? The dread and anxiety many people feel the evening before the first day of the workweek? The trick to eliminating that feeling is finding a passion for your work and a job you thoroughly enjoy. As a home health aide, you have the privilege of making a difference in other people’s lives, enjoying a flexible schedule and the opportunity to deliver complex care in your client’s home. While this is a personally rewarding career, the enjoyment and satisfaction you experience is often a direct result of the quality of care you offer your clients.

What Are Some of the Qualities That Make a Great Home Health Aide?

Good Communicator

There are many ways to communicate your thoughts and feelings with others, but for the most part, we do it by talking and listening. Communication is an advantage in any career, and those who are skilled are first and foremost good listeners. Listening not only demonstrates your concern for others, but it also helps you determine the kind of information your client may need. Your communication skills should be used with your client and your client’s family to keep them informed of what’s happening at home.

Patience

Being a home health aide often requires patience as you are caring for someone who likely expected to be independent. For instance, taking care of someone with limited mobility who needs help completing daily tasks may take longer than your schedule allows. The patience you show your clients also demonstrates and communicates love and respect.

Adaptability

There will be days when everything goes exactly as planned, and there will be others when caring for someone feels like you’re on a roller coaster ride. In the healthcare field, situations can change from one hour to the next, and being adaptable, helping your client adjust and keeping things moving in a positive direction are skills that will make your day go better and ease the mind of your client and their family. Be responsive to the requirements of your clients and offer an extra measure of support and compassion when needed.

Genuine Care and Compassion

As a home health aide, you’re stepping into a situation where your client has mental, emotional and physical needs. You won’t be able to do your job effectively without being able to care for the people to whom you’re assigned to help. This requires the ability to express genuine and positive feelings towards your client. Compassion and empathy go a long way toward communicating to your clients how much you care, which in turn supports the healing process.

Dependability

While this might not be the most exciting quality, it is important to your client and their family as they rely on you to arrive on time and be there to help with their daily tasks. There are times when you might be running late, but you can still be depended on to call your client and let them know when to expect you. When people are unable to perform tasks on their own, they rely on you to be trusted. Being dependable does not mean being perfect, but it does mean you can be counted on to communicate and be responsible.

 

Are You Ready to Change Lives?

As a home health aide, you do more than just care for people, you change their lives. You become a reliable presence and provide unwavering support. Couple this with unique skills and suddenly, you are a life-changing force in someone’s home. This makes you important to the healing process.

Consider making a real difference in someone’s life and become a home health aide. Contact our professional recruiter at Anodyne, and we’ll help walk you through this exciting and rewarding journey.