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Home Health Aide scores #6 on hot career rankings

Hot New Career #6 - Home Health Aide

While not exactly a new profession, home health aides are seeing increasing opportunities. Not only does the population continue to grow, but healthy retirees are now living longer and often need a part-time or full-time home health aide to take care of them. Nursing training programs can help you gain a foothold in this coming of age career track.

Related Degrees:Licensed Practical / Vocational NursingNursing CertificationNursing (ASN, BSN, MSN)

Average Salaries:Home Health Aides: $25,000Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses: $39,030Registered Nurses: $62,450

[Search for Nursing and Health Care training programs]

From the Yahoo! article here: 
http://education.yahoo.net/articles/breakout_new_careers.htm?kid=1A8G8

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ConsultAmerica of Birmingham, Alabama Has License Revoked

For the first time since 2007, a nursing home has lost its license. The neglect was so severe a resident was discovered with a pressure left untreated for so long that bone was actually visible when the wound was finally discovered. Another resident attempted to “escape” 40 times in just 2 days, and successfully got out twice.

Witnesses told investigators a certified nurse’s assistant at ConsultAmerica Health and Rehabilitation cursed at residents, jerked at one using a walker and pinned a woman’s arms down on a table after the resident hit her.

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ConsultAmerica was placed on probation in January 2009 and lost its license after waiving a March 11 revocation hearing. Now ConsultAmerica has lost its Medicaid and Medicare funding from the government, and administrators have gone from 40 patients to trying to relocate its lone remaining resident.

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The female resident who managed to leave twice was found once in the parking lot near a busy alley and on another occasion was discovered blocks away and had to be chased down by staff. Investigators said the woman, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and whose name was not released, apparently figured out that if she stooped low enough she could exit without a sensor she wore setting off alarms.

Some employees said the alarms couldn’t be heard in parts of the nursing home and sometimes didn’t sound at all.

The article closes with some good advice. Try to find a local, conveniently located nursing home for your loved ones, so that you can visit often and ensure they are being properly cared for.

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Two Serious Elder Abuse Cases in San Francisco Bay

Two serious cases of elder abuse came to light in SF Bay Area nursing homes this week—one a case of financial abuse and the second murder.

Both cases are described in this article

On Monday, March 22, 32 year-old Maximo Hong Fajardo Jr. of San Francisco allegedly smothered a nursing home resident, 87-year-old Barbara McIver, in full view of other residents and staff using a pillow. Although Fajardo has worked as a certified nursing assistant since 1999, he had worked only 2 weeks at Convalescent Center Mission Street at 5767 Mission St., near the Daly City border prior to the incident. He has no previous criminal record nor has a complaint ever been lodged against him.

Genuinely disturbing to see someone seemly snap so suddenly and inexplicably.

As for the other case

Giron, formerly an assistant administrator of the Elmwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center at 2829 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, told a supervisor a year ago that Williams was being transferred to another care home.

In actuality, Giron allegedly moved into Williams into her own home and started cashing Williams’ pension and Social Security checks. Williams was found in Giron’s home in August 2009 and had apparently been cared for adequately. But Giron had also opened bank accounts at Citibank for five other patients in 2008 and transferred money from those accounts into her own bank account. Giron then allegedly wrote checks to herself from the residents’ accounts and used their ATM cards.

On the bright side, the seniors were reportably treated well. Frightening that someone could get away with basically kidnapping someone and draining their life savings.

And finally, the article mentions a shocking statistic:

Although most people who work in nursing homes are truly there to help elders, these incidents are unfortunately not isolated cases. One of every 20 elderly people in California will be a victim of neglect or physical, psychological, or financial abuse this year.

If you know someone under the care of a nursing home or similar facilities, please visit often, and do not be afraid to voice your concerns should the need arise.

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Choosing the Perfect Nursing Home

Choosing the perfect nursing home for a loved one in need can be stressful decision. Learning how to research and compare homes along with the pitfalls to watch out for will enable you to make your choice with confidence when the time comes to decide on an assisted living or home health care center for a loved one who needs a level of care you cannot provide on your own.

Be prepared for sticker shock. Nursing homes cost an average of $200 a day, and Medicare will only cover medically necessary care like IV medicines or physical therapy. Most residents will have to rely on personal savings, insurance policies or possibly Medicaid.

Use publicly available data, like this site, but don’t rely on it too much. Rankings can only reflect the performance of a home during a short period, and state inspections tend to overlook both the home’s deficiencies and the seriousness of those deficiencies. At the same time, Medicare always gives the top 10% of the homes in a their highest rating of 5 stars, so a nearly equivalent home might get knocked down to 4 stars, or up to 5 by sake of their placement on the curve. Just know the nursing home could easily be better or worse than the rating might suggest.

Visit the nursing home often, and trust yourself. Appearance and smells provide helpful clues into the quality of the facility. Check in on different days, and at difference times of the day to get a real feel for how the center operates. Use a checklist, and meet with the people in charge. Be wary if you can’t get in contact with the executive director, lead physician or head nurse. When possible, attend council meetings run by residents or family members.

Find out if the nursing home provides “person-centered care,” which allows the resident to keep their own schedules rather than the traditional approach of having everyone wake up, eat and go to bed at the same times.

“Consistent assignment” is another management approach to look for, which attempts to have the same staff treat the same patients each day. The better continuity of care can provide for better relationships with care takers, along with fewer problems and mistakes.