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Home Health Aides + Personal Care Aides 

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Home Health Aides + Personal Care Aides 

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Workers in both of these professions have very similar general tasks. With regards to personal care, these individuals are able to help older adults with a variety of personal care tasks (ex. bathing), and help them keep their living quarters clean (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). They are also able to help ensure that the older adult is eating a healthy diet, by being the primary person that purchases the older adult's groceries (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). With regards to transportation, both home health aides and personal care aides are able to transport their clients to medical appointments and any social gatherings they may have (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). They can also help their clients stay social in the community, by helping them plan their upcoming week and ensuring that they are planning time to socialize with others within that time frame (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).

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While this is determined by the state in which the home health aide is in, a home health aide may have the ability to obtain basic medical knowledge about their patient, which includes a pulse and the rate at which they're breathing (among other things) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). These aides may also be able to perform further medical care, such as helping a patient complete daily physical therapy exercises or change any bandages they may have (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). With additional medical training, home health aides are able to certain types of medical equipment that their client may use, including a trachea (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). They are usually supervised by another medical professional, such as a nurse, and are expected to keep track of their client's medical history and progress (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).

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Personal care aides are not usually expected to provide any type of medical service. Rather, they focus on helping navigate the client navigate their daily life tasks and act as a companion for them (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). In addition, they can help clients with developmental or intellectual disabilities learn how to live an independent life, which might include teaching them how to make various foods (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). Personal care aides also help such clients control certain behaviors by creating behavior plans to help decrease such behaviors (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).

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Comparison Between a Home Health Aide and a Personal Care Aide

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Comparison Between a Home Health Aide and a Personal Care Aide

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Based on the differing tasks that both of these aides are skilled in, it would probably be best for a home health aide to be used in situations where the patient is requiring minimal medical assistance, and may require more in the future. This is because they are able to help in various medical situations, which is something that a personal care aide is not able to do. However, a personal care aide would probably be ideal in a situation where a client is still able to maintain independence in various aspects of their life. This is because they are not able to help in various medical situations, therefore they would not be able to help if medical help was needed on a daily basis.

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Recent Personal Care Aide + Home Health Aide News Headlines 

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Recent Personal Care Aide + Home Health Aide News Headlines 

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Video shows home health care aide beating 95-year-old NYC woman (https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/home-health-care-aide-abuse-video-nyc/)

Home health care aide accused of stealing from local senior citizen (https://www.wivb.com/news/crime/home-health-care-aide-accused-of-stealing-from-local-senior-citizen/)

Home health aide sentenced to 6 months in jail for stealing over $62,000 from elderly woman (https://www.whec.com/local/home-health-aide-sentenced-to-6-months-in-jail-for-stealing-over-62000-from-elderly-woman/)

Home Care Aides Fight to End 24-Hour Shifts: "This Work Is Killing Them" (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/07/nyregion/home-care-aides-city-council-bill-end-24-hour-shifts.html)

Proposed bill aims to address NY's drastic shortage of home health aides (https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/proposed-bill-aims-to-address-nys-drastic-shortage-of-home-health-aides/5331094/)

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I think that the example headlines that I chose portray a grave reality in America. On the one hand, such caregivers seem to have a strongly negative reputation within the world of press. As seen in some of the headlines, they are mainly portrayed as robbers and abusers by the media. While this may be true for a certain percentage of the population, I am sure that it does not accurately portray the majority. On the other hand, the last two headlines highlight a grim reality that we have previously discussed in class. We are on the brink of a caregiver crisis, and these two headlines show that we are beginning to see the signs of this crisis. Caregivers, both professional and unprofessional, are overworked and exhausted. If we do not do something to remediate this, the consequences of this crisis may soon be impossible to fix.

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Specific Stress that Home Health Aides + Personal Care Aides May Experience 

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Specific Stress that Home Health Aides + Personal Care Aides May Experience 

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Working in either one of these professions requires a lot of emotional and physical sacrifice (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). With regards to the emotional sacrifice, I imagine that it can be quite taxing to watch someone continually decline in some cases, and maybe even have to witness their death. As mentioned by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (n.d.), it can be quite physically demanding when a home health aide or personal care aide is expected to be able to physically maneuver their patient in multiple settings. When working with a patient, there is also a chance to get infected with a variety of infections, most commonly viral ones (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). Finally, these caregivers may have to deal with clients who have emotional or physical outbursts that could be dangerous to those around them (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.).

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As with informal caregivers, paid caregivers can experience burnout as well. For paid caregivers, burnout presents itself as having no emotional energy, feeling disconnected from oneself, and not feeling very accomplished within the professional world (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Such symptoms can lead to an overall increased risk of depression and anxiety (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). There are a variety of ways to decrease the chances of a paid caregiver experiencing such burnout, but one of the most important common themes is ensuring that the paid caregiver has access to various types of support, and is being actively supported by those around them (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

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Benefits of Working as a Paid Caregiver 

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Benefits of Working as a Paid Caregiver 

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There are a variety of reasons as to why someone would want to work as a paid caregiver. One reason would be that, because of the various trainings and certification that are possible within this field, there is a lot of possibility for professional growth (Wartburg, n.d.). Also, workers in this field have the ability to have a very flexible schedule (Wartburg, n.d.). Finally, working in such a profession allows people to build close relationships with their clients (Wartburg, n.d.). Overall, this field would be ideal for someone who does not want to have a stagnant position in their profession and would love to build relationships with other people.

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Approximately 87% of paid caregivers are women (Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2021). In my opinion, this reflects the expectation society has that women are automatically caregivers. We have discussed this expectation before, and it presents itself yet again in this statistic. Black women were the primary caregivers within this particular population, with almost 30% of women who are paid caregivers identifying as Black (Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2021). With regards to the male population of paid caregivers, the highest population within this group is Black males (Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2021). I am unsure of what to make of this trend, but it is worrisome that there is an overrepresentation of a certain group in this profession, because it may mean that there is not enough representation of this group in another profession.

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The best way to support a caregiver would probably be to check in with them, and communicate consistently. While professional caregivers do not necessarily have the same stressors as unpaid caregivers, I am sure that they still experience various strong emotions, such as grief and anxiety. As I was trying to research for this particular topic, I was unable to find any type of support resources that are easily advertised to strictly formal caregivers. In contrast, it was very easy to find support resources for informal caregivers. Therefore, I think it is imperative to focus on the health and wellbeing of specifically professional caregivers in future studies, so that we are able to gain at least some sort of understanding of how to best support them. At the same time, it is also important to continue focusing on informal caregivers.

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Center for Economic and Policy Research. (2021, October 27). Home Health Care: Latinx and Black Women are Overrepresented, But All Women Face Heightened Risk of Poverty. https://cepr.net/home-health-care-latinx-and-black-women-are-overrepresented-but-all-women-face-heightened-risk-of-poverty/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Home Health and Personal Care Aides. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home-health-aides-and-personal-care-aides.htm#tab-2

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Health Worker Burnout. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/health-worker-burnout/index.html

Wartburg. (n.d.). The Benefits of Working as a Home Health Aide. https://wartburg.org/the-benefits-of-working-as-a-home-health-aide/