Home care aides assist patients with personal care and activities of daily living including: bathing, feeding, grooming, dressing, oral health, shampoo, shaving, nail care, ambulation, exercises under the supervision of a nurse or therapist, medication reminders, meal preparation, laundry, and light housekeeping.

The home care aide works as a member of a team of professionals who provide nursing, rehabilitation, nutrition, and other therapeutic services to patients in their homes.

All home care aides are certified through special training, testing, and skills assessment, which are mandated by the federal government as part of Medicare/Medicaid regulations. In addition, home care aides complete a minimum of 12 hours of in-service education annually.

We interview, screen, and check the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) of home care aides serving Natick VNA patients prior to their hire. The clinical nursing and rehabilitation staff trains and regularly supervises the aides, whose performance is evaluated annually.

Some of the home care aides serving Natick VNA’s patients also have special training in the care of patients who have Alzheimer’s disease and those undergoing rehabilitation (physical, occupational, and speech therapy) at home. Aides are also trained to work with patients who are on monitor care through our home Telemonitoring Program.