Clara Aiken was a veteran nursing home worker, but when she made the leap to home care, she looked for a way to sharpen her skills.
Through the Advanced Home Care Aide Apprenticeship program, Aiken found that training and opportunities to skill share with other caregivers.
“One client I had could not speak, so I had to learn her body language,” Aiken says. “If it weren’t for the training apprenticeship, I don’t think I would’ve learned that kind of sensitivity to my consumer.”
The apprenticeship program is a free, 70-hour training program that provides HCAs with in-depth training for assisting consumers with physical disabilities.
HCAs, both certified and grandfathered, are eligible for the program, also receive a 25-cent raise upon completion.
SEIU 775 Training Partnership launched the program to support Home Care Aides like Aiken who have basic skills that could be advanced by professional training, attention to detail, and opportunities to skill share with other classmates.
“I wish I could tell every Home Care Aide to take these classes,” Aiken says. “It gives you the opportunity to voice a situation and learn about a situation that someone else in your class might also be going through.”
The apprenticeship program is also designed to better position Home Care Aides as professionals on their consumer’s care team and prevent costly ER visits by identifying health concerns early.
Aiken spoke passionately at the apprenticeship graduation on Sept. 4 about the importance of training as she transitioned from a 25-year career working in nursing homes to a Home Care Aide working directly with consumers in their homes.
Aiken shared the stage with SEIU 775 President David Rolf. “The number of people who need care is huge,” Rolf says.
“The U.S. doesn’t employ enough doctors and nurses to take care of this population. So our vision at SEIU is that doctors and nurses and pharmacists understand that they have allies in caregivers.”
Rep. Jim McDermott shares Rolf’s appreciation for the importance of the apprenticeship program. “When I graduated from medical school in the 1960s,” Rep. McDermott says, “there wasn’t really such a thing as a home care industry. The foresight of SEIU 775 Benefits Group in starting a training program to professionalize this new workforce is quite exemplary.”
Aiken sees her profession as a critical role in the consumer’s care team. “One of the things I learned that was most important is how to be a part of the environment of the consumer,” Aiken says.
“There are communication skills you have to know. You have to learn when to listen, how to handle your consumer, how to keep schedules for food, for medicine, and how to best monitor your consumer’s health. Those are skills. And through the program, I learned how to get better at them.”
For more information for 2016 classes, learn more about the apprenticeship program here.
