How do I Become a Home Attendant?

If you want to become a home attendant, you should first be sure you're passionate about helping disabled or elderly people. You should be a compassionate, patient person committed to providing the best possible service for people in their homes. Since home attendants may do any combination of duties from cleaning to personal grooming to driving people to appointments, you should carefully assess your skill areas so you know which types of job services you'll be able to provide for home-bound patients.

Lifting patients is something you should consider because back health as well as strength is needed to physically lift people, such as from a bath to a wheelchair. If you're not physically able to do this, you would need to choose work environments in which the client has electronic lifting devices. You should also consider the amount of housework needed if you want to become a home attendant, although light housekeeping is mainly what is expected.

Doing laundry and perhaps light dusting or a quick vacuum are common duties performed by home attendants. You'll also likely be expected to buy, prepare, serve and clean up meals. Feeding, bathing, dressing, toileting and grooming disabled or elderly patients is also a common part of a home attendant's job description. If you drive, you may be assigned patients to take to doctor's appointments or social events at a community recreation facility if you want to become a home attendant. If you don't drive, you can still usually help provide patients with social activity by reading to them or playing a card game with them.

It's important to keep in mind that the different home attendant jobs and their duties are extremely varied. It's impossible to have all of the different possible skills that could be needed if you want to become a home attendant. Develop the skills you can offer and look for positions that require your abilities.

Volunteering at a hospital is often a good way to become a home attendant, especially if you can work under a nurse who will provide assistant training. A home attendant with nursing assistant training often checks a home-bound patient's vital signs as well as administers prescribed medications. Changing dressings as a part of wound care is another common duty of this type of attendant who may be called a home health aide. Volunteer experience and a nurse's recommendation can help you get referred to home attendant jobs.