In recent years, the senior care industry has grown dramatically. Although some seniors move into assisted living facilities, many choose to remain in their own home and hire a professional caregiver. Despite the obvious advantages of in-home health care, it can be difficult to find reliable help. Not all caregivers have the necessary skills to provide quality care, and some agencies offer limited supervision of their providers.
Ensuring a Standard of Care
To overcome these skill and reliability issues, The Senior’s Choice, Inc., the leading membership network of independent companion care companies, has established a new certification for caregivers. The Certified Companion Aide (CCA) will raise the standard for both education and skill. Steve Everhart, president and founder of The Senior’s Choice, stated, “Our mission is simple, we want to ensure the best home care possible for seniors – they’ve earned it, they deserve it.”
Types of Home Care Agencies
Hired caregivers provide daily services for the elderly, including housekeeping, meal preparation, laundry, shopping, and other errands. Some agencies may offer personal care assistance such as bathing, dressing and grooming. Still, others have the responsibility of administering medication, driving their clients to appointments, and other medical care duties. In spite of these serious responsibilities, all too frequently the typical caregiver is under trained. As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the skill requirements for the average caregiver are low. Caregivers often rely only on previous care experience (such as caring for an ailing family member) and then hire themselves out, either independently or via an agency. Unfortunately, each caregiver’s personal experience and skill level varies greatly.
Training Guidelines For Homecare
Rosemarie Tamunday, owner of RIGHT ACCORD Private Duty-Home Health Care in Sarasota, Florida, says ““Training, or lack of it, is the issue. We’ve always insisted on a standardized training program for our caregivers. But we’re an exception. Many companion care companies, some of them franchises, offer very limited caregiver training. And some provide no skills training at all to their employees. Independent caregivers, those who are not affiliated with any agency, certainly don’t seek training. That’s a scary situation when you are hiring someone to care for yourself or a loved one.”
Without a proper training program, there is no predicable skill standard. To rectify this situation, the CCA was born. In this innovative program, caregivers study 19 core subjects related to senior care. The caregivers then need to pass a battery of tests to ensure competency in the material. The process prepares caregivers to consistently and professionally perform exceptional in-home care for seniors.
Currently, this certification opportunity is being offered exclusively among 250 Senior’s Choice network member agencies throughout the United States and Canada. There’s no doubt these agencies will have a considerable advantage over others; obviously families are going to be more apt to hire the more experienced and competent caregivers.
How Can Your Homecare Agency Be Competetive?
ClearCare not only offers the best home care scheduling solution, it provides you with the most reliable real-time visibility to the client’s point-of-care. ClearCare’s care management software is the only way to successfully overcome any skill and reliability issues with your caregivers. Our programs help you easily keep track of your caregivers’ schedules and tasks, and allow you to know exactly when these critical tasks are completed. When you offer your client’s this kind of peace of mind, they will understand the priority you put on their loved one’s care.
