When Chunhua Ye’s aunt became widowed and needed care, she turned to Ye for help. Ye was an obvious choice of caregiver, because her 78-year-old aunt trusted her as a family member. Ye can also communicate easily with her aunt in their native Cantonese language.
It’s a job Ye, 38, enjoys. She became certified as a Home Care Aide (HCA) in August as a Limited English Proficient (LEP) student, with Cantonese as her primary language.
Learning caregiving skills and taking the Prometric certification exam in a second language comes with many challenges. Ye, the mother of a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, focuses on what she considers the two keys to being a successful HCA – a lot of patience and passion for the job.
What brought you to the United States?
I’m from Taishan, a small town in southern China, and I speak the Taishanese dialect, too. (See page 11 to learn more about this region of the world.) My husband and I decided to emigrate in 2001 because my husband’s whole family is in Seattle. It is the first city we arrived in the U.S.
What were your biggest lessons as an LEP student going through basic HCA certification training?
To be a caregiver you have to be patient. I heard from other students in the same training class that some clients talk a lot. And sometimes the caregiver asks them to do something, but the client doesn’t listen. I discussed it with the instructor, who advised me to have patience because sometimes the client is lonely. They would just like to talk [and for] someone to be there to listen to what they are saying and what they are feeling.
What tips would you have for other LEP students?
You have to love this stuff first, because the client sometimes can be (a more difficult case). So you have to give a lot of patience to the client. You don’t have patience if you don’t love your job. There’s no way you can do it. You have to have passion that you can handle the job, otherwise it’s kind of wasting time for the caregiver and for the client too.
What is the most rewarding part of being a caregiver?
When I take care of the client and she introduces me to other people, tells them how I take care of her in a good way, and how I’m patient and listen. My client shows she appreciates my job. I’m happy that I can help someone and make someone happy.
How do you hope to use your caregiving skills in the future?
I’m thinking about running an adult family home, but have not started on the process yet. I would like to run a children’s day care, too.
