The executive director of Genetic Health Rx and a private duty personal care assistant, Sue Haglind is a resident of Lakeville, Minnesota. One of the things she has observed throughout her career that worries her is the general increase in demand for home health aides and personal care assistants despite the stagnant interest in these fields of work. From 2016 to 2026, it is anticipated that demand for home health and personal care aides will increase by 40%, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. The demand for home health and personal care aides will rise as the baby-boom generation ages, and the elderly population rises. To learn more about this fascinating subject, keep reading.
Why Is There a Growing Need for Home Health Aides?
Two factors are driving up demand for home health aides. First, the aging of the population is the primary factor driving up demand for home health aides. There is a need for caregivers as the baby boomers begin to age. Baby boomers are getting older and becoming more vulnerable to illness or injury. If this happens, they may require extra assistance to remain at home. Home health aides can be helpful in this situation.
However, there are other factors contributing to the increase in demand for home health aides as well. The second factor driving up demand for home health aides is the number of people quitting their jobs in this industry. People who are currently employed in this field feel underappreciated and overworked. Additionally, Covid-19 raised a lot of health issues, and there were numerous workplace limitations, which made it challenging to work in this field. Unfortunately, this led many people employed in this field to leave, which contributed to the widening gap between the number of home health aides and the number of those in need of one.
What will occur if there are insufficient home health aides?
If the demand for home health aides is not met by an increase in the supply of trained home health aides, some serious issues could arise. The lack of home health aides, which would force people to leave their homes and enter short-term or long-term care facilities, is one of the biggest worries. Although this may not seem to be a problem, in theory, there may not be enough care facilities to accommodate everyone who might need to be evicted from their homes and placed in these facilities. This can be a significant issue because, in the end, there might be nowhere for people to turn for assistance. This could put a heavy burden on hospitals.
Seniors not receiving the care they require is another severe issue developing due to the shortage of home health aides. Home health aides are frequently less expensive than live-in facilities, which can be costly. Some elderly people may stay at home rather than receive the care they require if there are not enough home health aides available. This may result in more illnesses or accidents among the aging senior population. Once more, this could put a heavy burden on hospitals or reduce the lifespan of seniors from lower-income families.
How Can Businesses Draw People to the Home Health Aide Sector?
Changes must be made to entice more people to work in this field to address the issue of a shortage of home health aides in the industry. Employee compensation needs to improve as one of the first things to happen. The work of home health aides is difficult. They are essentially taking care of an elderly person. They might put in a lot of overtime and physical labor. Both the body and the mind may suffer as a result. In this industry, wages must rise because they are falling behind.
Programs for recruitment and training must also be implemented. Young people who have just graduated from high school or college typically do not consider working in this industry because they know little about it. Imagine that younger people could easily find employers who would train them to be home health aides if they knew there was such a high demand for them. In that case, you could quickly increase the pool of potential eager employees to join the home health aide sector.
Finally, businesses need to deal with the high employee turnover rates in the sector. They must consult with current and former workers to determine what can be done to increase employee satisfaction and retention. Employees may require more psychological or emotional support from their employers, greater compensation or bonuses, or a restriction on the number of hours they work each week. Dealing with high turnover can aid in slowing the rate at which people leave the industry.
Sue Haglind is a private duty personal care assistant, so she knows the difficulties that can arise in this line of work. She is aware of the rewards it can bring, though. The ability to help someone stay in their own home and receive home health care require benefits for both the party assisting and the party receiving it, and it also helps to keep people out of nursing homes and hospitals. Home health aides are in greater demand, but there aren’t enough on the market now. But Ms. Haglind believes that as more people speak out about this issue, awareness will grow, and more people will be motivated to enter the field and make a living there.
Sue Haglind 