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February 2007 Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Being Well Home Care Revisited By Toby Laping, Ph. D., C.S.W., Private Care Manager
B. Personal care aides and home health aides are employees of licensed home health care agencies and they are trained in the best techniques for providing personal care. Typically, these aides are covered by long term care insurances as well as by Medicaid and Medicare. Personal care and home health aides are taught how to give bed baths, the safest way to help people transfer and walk, the way to make a bed while someone is lying in it, and other such services included in providing personal care. These aides may not give medications or treatments but they may remind patients to take their prescribed medications. In addition, it’s reasonable to expect these people to do light housekeeping and cooking. Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $20 hourly. C. RNs and LPNs are typically people who oversee care and provide medication management. They also can do medical treatments such as wound care under the supervision of a physician or nurse practitioner. While people often say that they want “nurses around the clock,” the reality is that nurses are very rarely needed around the clock. In fact, sometimes aides provide better service; they’re the ones who do bed baths all the time and may be more skilled at that. At the same time, nurses can check vital signs, give medications, be aware of subtle changes that suggest a physician should be called, and otherwise address sophisticated health care issues. These folks are billed by agencies at rates from $40 to $70 hourly. D. When people are hired privately, they need not abide by the restrictions that agencies and the Department of Health impose on agencies and on businesses. Therefore, there is a large network of people who work privately and it is up to their employers to decide how much they are capable of doing, and it’s up to the employees to know and state clearly the limits of their capacities. That protection is lacking without the oversight of an agency and so the vigilance of both employer and employee is necessary in order to avoid situations which are beyond the knowledge base of the helper. Toby Laping Association is a geriatric care management firm, in business for over 20 years. Their job is to make the long term care system more responsive to the needs of older people and their families. The staff knows the system, what is available in WNY in both home care and institutional placement, and how to make services cost effective and responsive. They address short term solutions in crises, longer term planning, and ongoing oversight to make sure services continue to be appropriate. Call 884-3277 or visit www.tobylapingassociates.com. back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
