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Becoming a Certified Home Health Aide

How to become a Certified Home Health Aide

If you have a desire to make a positive impact on the lives of the sick, disabled, and elderly, this could be a great position for you to consider.

home health aide

What is a Home Health Aide?

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A Home Health Aide (HHA) is a trained, skilled provider of home health care for people who need assistance with daily living in their home beyond what family or friends are capable of providing. The Home Health Aide career field is one of the fastest growing areas in the healthcare arena and has great potential for opportunities.

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Is This the Right Career for You?

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Home health aides usually earn around $10 per hour. However, it varies depending on the state. People skill are also a must. Patience is needed, especially when dealing with stubborn, uncooperative patients, or those with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. You should be physically competent; the lifting of patients or heavy equipment may be necessary.

If the above home health aide description fits your personality, and this is a field you wish to enter, you’ll want stay abreast of the latest developments and earn your CHHA certification

If you like helping people, joining the HHA profession should give you much satisfaction and provide a rewarding career.

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Certified Nursing Assistant Skills and Qualifications:

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Creating a Safe, Effective Environment, Health Promotion and Maintenance, Nursing Skills, Health Care Administration, Patient Services, Verbal Communication, Listening, Training , Dependability, Emotional Control, Medical Teamwork.

What does a Certified Home Health Aide do?

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  • Administer prescription medicine

  • Check vital signs – pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate

  • Change bandages

  • Physically move patient from one area to another (out of bed, bath, wheelchair, vehicle)

  • Light housekeeping (laundry, change bed linens, sweep, dust)

  • Provide massages to prevent bedsores

  • Help with physical exercises and other therapies

  • Bathing, dressing, and grooming

  • Feeding

  • Preparing meals as prescribed

  • Support emotionally and psychologically for companionship/entertainment

Work Environment

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Most work in a client’s home; others work in small group homes or larger care communities. Some home health aides go to the same home every day or week for months or even years. Some visit four or five clients in the same day, while others work only with one client all day. This may involve working with other aides in shifts so that the client always has an aide. They help people in hospices and day services programs, and also help people with disabilities go to work and stay engaged in their communities.

Steps on How to Become a CHHA

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You would take a 76 hour curriculum mandated by the New Jersey Board of Nursing includes all components necessary (speech, occupational, physical therapy, CPR, dietary skills, etc.) to train participants to provide home care to the ill and elderly. Click here to fill out the Application to Become a Certified Homemaker-Home Health Aide.

Job Outlook

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Employment of home health aides is projected to grow 38 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. As the baby-boom population ages and the elderly population grows, demand for the services of home health aides to provide assistance will continue to increase.

Median annual salary

$21,920*

In May 2015, the median annual wages for home health aides in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:

Continuing care retirement communities and assisted living

facilities for the elderly

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Residential intellectual and developmental disability, mental

health, and substance abuse facilities

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Home healthcare services

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Services for the elderly and persons with disabilities

$22,200

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$22,020

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$21,710

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$21,500

*According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor