Quality Home Care Service

Quality Home Care Service

Before we start a client's home care service, our Supervisory Nurse visits the client at his or her home to learn about the client's needs and expectations.  Our Supervisory Nurse develops a plan of care, which is tailored to a client's individual needs, with the client or client's family member.  A home care worker is carefully selected for a client based on factors such as client's preference in language, cultural cuisine, or religious observation.  While every effort is made to accommodate a client's request for a specific home care worker, our agency reserves the right to provide one based on the availability of the home care worker.

All of our home care workers possess an active, valid certificate in Personal Care Aide and/or Home Health Aide.  Before being hired, our home care applicants go through a thorough screening process which includes reference check, assessment of character, verification of certificates, and a fingerprinting check on the national and state database overseen and updated by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).  All new hirees are  also oriented about our agency's philosophy on caring and customer service.  

To maintain our quality of care, we have a team of dedicated coordinators and Supervisory Nurses who supervise our home care workers via in-service training and on-the-job training.  Newly hired home care workers are required to attend a six-hour in-service training within three months of being hired, and all active home care workers complete a six-hour in-service training every six months.  When needed, a Supervisory Nurse conducts a one-to-one training with a home care worker to improve the home care worker's basic skills or knowledge in providing personal care.

Home Care Worker's Job Duties:

  1. Feeding: Serve meals and assist in feeding.
  2. Ambulation: Assist client in and out of bed and from bed to chair or wheelchair.  Help with going outdoors, visiting doctors or clinics, and other assistance with ambulation.
  3. Bathing: Assist with client with bathing, or washing in bed, tub, or shower.
  4. Toileting: Assist client with use of toilets or bedpan.
  5. Personal Grooming: Assist client with care of hair, shaving, brushing teeth, and clipping nails if client is not a diabetic.
  6. Dressing: Assist client with dressing.
  7. Medication: Assist in administering medication prescribed by a physician.  Home attendants are not to administer injections.
  8. General: The following tasks may be performed for the client only if no family members or other persons are available and if necessary for the client's health and comfort.  Such tasks may include any of the following, depending upon the individual situation, to maintain a clean and orderly appearance of the client's home.  THE HOME ATTENDANT IS NOT EXPECTED TO PERFORM ANY HOUSEHOLD FUNCTIONS FOR PERSONS OTHER THAN THE HOME CARE RECIPIENT.
    1. Kitchen: Sweep and wash floor; wax if time permits.  Defrost, clean refrigerator, maintain proper storage of perishable and other foods.  Clean inside and outside of storage cabinets; arrange contents for accessibility.
    2. Bathroom: Sweep and wash floor.  Clean tub, basin, and toilets.  Wash outside of cabinets and arrange interior of cabinets.
    3. Living and Dining Room: Sweep or vacuum floors, depending on type of floor and equipment available. Dust furniture, window sills, woodwork and Venetian blinds.  Brush or vacuum upholstered pieces and lamp shades.
    4. Bedroom: Make beds.  Clean as needed.
    5. Sanitation: Cover and remove garbage and waste.
    6. Laundry and ironing: Launder washable apparel or household linens in family washing machine or in commercial laundromat.  Handwash fragile times of apparel such as lingerie and stockings, or in an emergency, handwash clothing needed for ill client.  Ironing as needed.
    7. Preparation of Meals: As needed.
    8. Errands: As needed.
  9. Assist with Home Management: Assist with budget planning, meal planning, paying bills, and other money management, only if clients or other family member is unable to perform these functions.
  10. Health Related Service: With prior permission, personal care service may include the performance of specific health related tasks when the home attendant is SUPERVISED in these tasks by the Certified Home Health Agency nurse.

Important! Home care workers are NOT allowed to do the following tasks:

  • Giving injections
  • Irrigation of a colostomy
  • Irrigation of the vaginal canal
  • Changing of sterile dressings
  • Application of heat or cold
  • Tracheotomy care
  • Enemas
  • Catheter care
  • Administer oxygen
  • Medical-related tasks or procedures