In a nutshell, caregiving is anything you do that enhances the quality of life for seniors and helps keep them independent. Caregiving encompasses many responsibilities, and many caregivers don't even realize they are providing this service.
If you regularly provide emotional support for an elderly person, you could be considered a caregiver. If you're picking up prescriptions or taking a senior to a doctor's appointment, you're a caregiver. If you're helping an older adult around the house or paying the bills, you can add the caregiver title to your resume.
As a professional CAREGiverSM, you have the opportunity to expand these skills into a rewarding, fulfilling profession that can significantly enhance the quality of a senior's life. CAREGivers provide a variety of non-medical services that allow seniors to remain in their homes, including companionship and home helper services.
Companionship services are those that stimulate, encourage, and assist an individual.
Primary responsibilities include:
- Providing companionship and conversation
- Providing stabilization and assistance with walking
- Preparing meals and cleaning up meal-related items
- Providing medication and appointment reminders
Home helper services help maintain a save environment.
Primary responsibilities include:
- Performing light housekeeping tasks such as dusting, vacuuming, making beds, changing linens,
cleaning bathrooms and kitchens, etc.
- Washing and ironing laundry
- Running errands
- Accompanying clients to appointments
Personal care services assist with activities of daily living (ADLs).
Primary responsibilities include:
- Eating
- Grooming
- Dressing
- Bathing
- Incontinence
Other responsibilities might be added to these lists, depending on your situation, but the most important and most rewarding aspect of a career in caregiving is the value you bring to a senior's life.
At the Home Instead Senior Care® network, we recognize the important role training and education play in preparing and supporting our CAREGivers.
Training and Support
From the moment you're hired, your local Home Instead Senior Care office will offer you a variety of initial and
on-going training opportunities to help you enhance your caregiving skills.
Each new employee is provided with our CAREGiver training program that addresses issues such as communicating with seniors, planning activities, recognizing illnesses and depression, and even safety training. In addition, regular CAREGiver meetings allow you to share with and learn from other caregiving professionals. Plus your office staff are available any time to help answer questions and provide support. And as a Home Instead CAREGiver, you will be bonded and insured.
Some offices within the Home Instead Senior Care network also offer advanced Alzheimer's and Personal Care Assistant (PCA) training. In 2003, the American Society on Aging recognized Home Instead, Inc. as the Small Business of the Year for its exclusive CAREGiver Alzheimer's training program designed by The George G. Glenner Alzheimer's Family Center, Inc., world renowned dementia and Alzheimer's experts. This program and other professionally developed and recognized Alzheimer's training programs are used throughout Home Instead Senior Care's offices. They provide CAREGivers with the latest in Alzheimer's education and home care techniques.
"Our primary mission is to keep seniors independent for as long as possible, and that means making sure CAREGivers have the tools and training they need to provide older adults with the highest quality care," said Paul Hogan, Co-Founder and CEO of the Home Instead Senior Care network. "We offer resources and experiences that will benefit our employees in future endeavors they might choose."
What's in it for you?
- Make a difference
- Positive impact on lives
- No medical experience necessary
- Flexible scheduling - perfect for retirees
- Paid training provided
- Supplemental income
- Very rewarding
- Meet and interact with others
What's required from you?
Providing care for America's greatest generation requires special individuals. We will provide the skills necessary, but you must have the compassion and genuine care. We guarantee every client a compatible CAREGiver that is trained to provide the services necessary to encourage independence. We will verify your references and last 10 years of employment. You will be required to submit to a drug test initially and random testing thereafter (approximately 2 - 3 per year). Additional requirements:
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All employees are testing for illegal substances before employment and randomly thereafter
All employees must be over the age of 21
Possess a valid Tennessee drivers license
Possess the minimum education, experience and skills to perform the responsibilities the job requires
Willing & Able to adapt to various individual living environments
Willing & able to bend, twist, stoop, kneel, and reach
Willing & able to communicate with clients in a friendly and congenial manner with dignity and respect
Willing & Able to communicate with office in a timely fashion
Willing & able to drive reliable transportation with state minimum auto insurance
Willing & Able to lift 25 pounds without assistance
Willing & able to participate in all training programs
Willing & able to pass a thorough criminal background check
Willing & able to provide negative TB results annually
Willing & able to provide work / personal references for us to confirm
Willing & able to read, write, understand and speak English to the degree that an older adult can
understand the conversation
Willing & able to withstand exposure to dust, mold, mildew and cleaning solutions
To learn more about caregiving and what it means to be a Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiver, watch the video above, or explore some of these other topics on our site:
