Homemaker

Overview: Job Summary: A Homemaker/Caregiver is a non?licensed member of the home health care team who assists the client with activities of daily living as outlined in a written care plan. This is established by the Care Coordinator. Homemakers/Companions are supervised by an Agency Supervisor and receive scheduling direction from their Agency Care Coordinator.Responsibilities:Job Duties:

• Planning and preparing meals according to specific dietary requirements of the
• Maintaining a safe, clean and healthy environment through housekeeping assistance;
• Providing companionship and stimulation for the client including reading, walks, etc.; and accompanying the client to
• Grocery shopping or other errands when
• Performing other housekeeping tasks as indicated in the care
• Participating in In?Service Education programs as assigned by the
• Assisting the client with activities of daily living and personal
• Responsible for completing all mandatory and regulatory training programs
• Perform other duties as assigned

Personal Care Requirements:

To delineate the types of services that can be provided by a home services worker, the following are examples of acceptable tasks and also limitations when a more medical model of assistance would be needed to meet the higher needs of the client.

• Skin Care: A home services worker may perform general skin care assistance. Skin care may be performed by a home services worker only when skin is UNBROKEN, and when any chronic skin problems are not active. The skin care provided by a home services worker must be preventative rather than therapeutic in nature and may include the application of Non? Medicated Lotions and Solutions or of Lotions and Solutions not requiring a prescription. Skilled skin care must be provided by an agency licensed as a home health or a home nursing
  

Skilled skin care includes; wound care, dressing changes, application of prescription medications, skilled observation and reporting.

• 
  Ambulation: A Home services worker may assist clients with ambulation. Clients in the process of being trained to use adaptive equipment for ambulation, such as walkers, canes or wheelchairs, require supervision by an agency licensed to provide home health or home nursing services during the period of their training. Once the prescribing individual or the health care provider responsible for the training of the client is comfortable with releasing the client to work on his or her own, with the adaptive equipment, a home services worker may assist with ambulation.
• Bathing: A home services worker may assist clients with bathing. However, when a client has skilled skin care needs or skilled dressings that will need attention before, during, or after bathing, the client shall be in the care of an agency licensed as a home health agency or a home nursing agency to meet those specific
• Dressing: A home services worker may assist a client with dressing. This may include assistance with ordinary clothing and application of support stockings, those that can be purchased without a prescription. A home services worker may not assist with application of an Ace Bandage that can be purchased only with a prescription (the application of which involves wrapping a part of the client’s body) or with application of a sequential compression device that can be purchased only with a physician’s
• Exercise: A home services worker may assist a client with exercise. Passive assistance with exercise that can be performed by a home services worker is limited to the encouragement of normal bodily movement, as tolerated, on the part of the client, and the encouragement of the use of a prescribed exercise program. Passive Range of motion may not be performed by a home services
• Feeding: A home services worker may aid with feeding. Home services workers can assist clients with feeding when the client can independently swallow and be positioned upright. Assistance by a home services worker does not include syringe, tube feedings, and intravenous nutrition. Whenever there is a high risk that the client may choke as a result of the feeding, the client should be in the care of an agency licensed as a home health or home nursing agency to fulfill this
• Hair Care: As a part of the broader set of services provided to clients who are receiving home

services, workers may assist clients with the maintenance and appearance of their hair. Hair

care within these limitations may include shampooing with non?medicated shampoo or shampoo that doesn't require a prescription. workers may assist with drying and combing hair.

• Mouth Care: A home services worker may assist in and perform mouth care. This may include

denture care and basic oral hygiene, including oral suctioning for mouth care. Mouth care for clients who are unconscious shall be performed by an agency licensed as a home health agency or home nursing agency.

• Nail Care: A home services worker may assist a client with nail care. This assistance may include soaking of nails, pushing back cuticles without utensils, and filing of nails. Assistance by a home services worker may NOT include nail trimming. Clients with a medical condition that might involve peripheral circulatory problems or loss of a sensation shall be under the care of an agency licensed as a home health agency or home nursing agency to meet this
• Positioning: A home services worker may assist a client with positioning when the client is able to identify to the personal care staff, either verbally, non?verbally or through others, when the position needs to be changed, only when skilled skin care, as previously described, is not

required in conjunction with the position. Positioning may include simple alignment in a bed, wheelchair, or other furniture.

• 
  Shaving: A home services worker may assist a client with shaving ONLY with an electric
• Toileting: A home services worker may assist a client to and from the bathroom; provide assistance with bed pans, urinals, and commodes; provide pericare; or change clothing and pads of any kind used for the care of
  

• A home services worker may empty or change EXTERNAL urine collection devices, such as catheter bags or suprapubic catheter bags. In all cases, the insertion and removal of catheters and care of external catheters is considered skilled care and shall not be performed by a home services
• A home services worker may empty ostomy bags and provide assistance with other client directed ostomy care only when there is no need for skilled skin care or for observation or reporting to a nurse. A home services worker shall NOT perform digital stimulation, insert suppositories, or give an

• Transfers: A home services worker may assist with transfers only when the client has sufficient balance and strength to reliably stand, pivot and assist with the transfer to some extent. Adaptive and safety equipment may be used in transfers, provided that the client is fully trained in the use of the equipment and can direct the transfer step by step. Adaptive equipment may include, but is not limited to, wheelchairs, tub seats, and grab bars. Gait belts may be used as a safety device for the home services worker as long as the worker has been properly trained in their use. In general, a home services worker may not assist with transfers when the client is unable to assist with the transfer. Home services worker may assist clients in the use of a mechanical or electrical transfer device only when the following conditions are met:
  • The home services worker must have been trained in the use of the mechanical or electrical transfer device by the licensed agency;
  • The client or client representative must be able to direct the transfer step by step; and
  • The agency must have conducted a competency evaluation of the worker using the type of device that is available in the
• Medication Reminders: A home services worker may assist a client with medication reminders only when medications have been pre?selected by the client, a family member, a nurse or a pharmacist, and are stored in containers other than the prescriptions bottles, such as medication minders. Medication minder containers shall be clearly marked as today and time of dosage. Medication reminders include: inquiries as to whether medications were taken; verbal prompting to take medications, handing the appropriately marked medication minder container to the client; and opening the appropriately marked medication minder container for the client IF the client is physically unable to open the marked container. These limitations apply to all prescription and all over the counter medications. The home services worker shall immediately report to the supervisor, or, in the case of placement worker, to the client or the client’s advocate or designee, any irregularities noted in the pre?selected medications, such as medication taken too often or not often enough, or not at correct time as identified in the written
• Respiratory Care: A home services worker shall not provide respiratory care. Respiratory care is skilled and includes postural drainage; cupping; adjusting oxygen flow within established parameters; nasal, endotracheal and tracheal suctioning; and turning off or changing
  

However, home services workers may temporarily remove and replace a cannula or mask from the client’s face for the purposes of shaving or washing a client’s face and may provide oral suctioning.

• Restraints and Seclusion: A home services shall only provide seclusion or restraints when supported by documentation in the Plan of Care and the employees have received training on restrain and seclusion

Housekeeping Assistance as Defined by IDOA:

• Home Cleaning; vacuuming, sweeping, waxing floors, mopping, dusting,
• Bathroom Cleaning; sanitation, maintenance,
• Bedroom Cleaning; bed making, linen changes, maintenance,
• Kitchen Cleaning; dish washing, cleaning the counter tops, oven cleaning, refrigerator cleaning, etc.
• Laundry; washing, drying, folding, hanging/putting away clothes,
• Home Maintenance and Repairs;
  • The definition of Home Maintenance and Repairs is as follows: "Home Maintenance and Repairs" means those non?routine tasks, excluding any work requiring a ladder or requiring specialized skills on the part of the worker, necessary to maintain a safe and healthful environment for the client as required by the plan of care (e.g., defrosting the refrigerator; cleaning the oven; dusting walls and woodwork; cleaning closets, cupboards and insides of windows; changing filters and cleaning humidifiers; clearing hazards from outside steps and sidewalks if transportation and/or escort is required by the plan of care; replacing light bulbs)
• Miscellaneous duties as defined by the Plan of Care

Light housekeeping includes things like dusting of surfaces and knickknacks, as well as picking up newspapers, magazines and other clutter. It also includes emptying the trash, vacuuming and sweeping of main walk areas. In a nutshell light housekeeping is completing the specific tasks required to tidy up areas that a client uses.

Examples of what a light housekeeping service does NOT include are heavy?duty cleaning tasks that require moving heavy furniture, washing outside windows nor does it include outside chores such as mowing the grass.

Light housekeeping, as part of a homecare service, is offered and restricted to the client and those areas used by the client. Typically, that means the kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. It should not be confused as a housekeeping service as light housekeeping is only one part of an overall care service provided to an elderly or disabled adult to make their lives safer and more pleasant.

Responsibility in Caring for Pets:

Home Life Healthcare recognized the value of a pet to the client’s well?bring and expects that caregivers perform general pet care tasks. These include:

• Buying pet food while doing other client shopping

• 
  Putting food and water in pet’s bowls
• Letting the animal in or out of the home
• Cleaning a pet’s litter box, except in cases which would endanger the health of the caregiver

Tasks that are NOT required but can be performed at the caregiver’s discretion:

• Walking the pet
• Taking the pet to get groomed

Tasks that should not be performed by the caregiver:

• Grooming or trimming the pet
• Clipping the pet’s nails
• Excessive cleaning up after the pet inside the home (NOTE: the determination of “excessive” will be addressed on an individual basis)
• Cleaning up after the pet outside of the home

When assigning a caregiver to a client with pets in the home, the care coordinator will attempt to make the best match possible for the client and the caregiver. In the case of pet care, the care coordinator will not send a caregiver into a home with animals if they know the caregiver has allergies to these animals. A supervisor may also need to consider if the caregiver has extreme fear of an animal. In this instance, the worker may still be able to provide services to the client if the animal remains restrained and/or in another room during the provision of the service.

ADA Physical Requirements:

• 
  Worker must be able to maintain body equilibrium to prevent falling and walking, standing or crouching on narrow, slippery, or erratically moving
• Worker must be able to bend body downward and forward by bending spine at the
• Worker must be able to extend hand(s) and arm(s) in any
• Worker must be able to stand for sustained periods of
• Worker must be able to move about of foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distance or moving from ne work site to
• Worker must be able to use upper extremities to press against something with steady force in order to thrust forward, downward or
• Worker must be able to use upper extremities to exert force in order to draw, haul or tug objects in a sustained
• Worker must be able to raise objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position?to?position.
• Worker must be able to pressure to an object with the fingers and
• Worker must be able to perceive attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature or texture by toughing with skin, particularly that of
• Worker must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or
  

• Worker must be able to perceive the nature of sound at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Able to receive detailed information through information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in
• Worker must be able to exert up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move
• Worker must be able to have visual acuity to determine the accuracy, neatness and thoroughness of the work assigned or to make general observations of facilities or structures.
• Worker may be subject to environmental conditions. Protection from weather conditions but not necessarily from temperature
• Worker may be subject to atmospheric conditions. One or more of the following conditions that affect the respiratory system of the skin: fumes, odors, dust, mists, gases, or poor ventilation.
• Worker must be able to function in narrow aisles or
  

Employees May Not:

Provide skilled personal care services as defined in Section 245.20;

• 
  Become or act as a Power of Attorney;
• Become a legal responsible person to the applicant/participant (spouse, guardian, POA’s and representative payees)
• Be involved in any financial transactions of the client outside of contracted services. In such cases, the home services worker shall follow agency policies in regard to securing receipts for items purchased and ensuring both client and worker signatures documenting those expenditures;
• Perform or provide medication setup for a client; and
• Other actions specifically prohibited by agency policy or other state

Qualifications:Attendance Requirements:

• Must be available and on-time for scheduled work shifts

Educational Requirements:

• High School Diploma or Equivalent

Experience Preferred:

• One year of experience with providing personal care
• One year of experience in a home care setting

Special Conditions of Employment:

• Criminal background check and/or drug test
• Initial and continuous exclusion and sanction/disciplinary monitoring

Required Training:

• HIPPA Privacy & Security Course
• Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Course

Job Skills Required:

• Exceptional attention to detail, strong customer service, interpersonal and communication skills
• Must be able to effectively communicate internally and externally, via phone and through email
• Must be able to work independently

Behavioral Traits:

• Intuitive/Open minded: Must be able to see opportunities, develop and implement creative solutions to complex problems
• Achievement Drive/Commitment: Driven to achieve goals, objectives and results. Fosters a culture of continuous improvement
• Positive/Supportive: Inspires and shows faith in others, builds a positive and supportive work environment
• Flexibility: Ability to adapt to changing business needs. To balance multiple priorities and deliver under pressure