Care Workers in the Home Care Sector - Senior care in Canada and Long Term Care Planning

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Overview of Types of Paid Care Workers in the Home Care Sector Source: Adapted from Canadian Home Care Study Corporation (2003a: 11) from 'Health Worker Migration' 2009 Home Support Workers (also called personal care attendants/workers) deliver the basics; a washed floor, a clean bathroom a stocked fridge, a hot meal, laundered clothes and linens, and a safe bath. They perform health care tasks such as changing dressings and urine bags. They provide other essentials, too: a conversation, a watchful eye, a reminder to eat or to take a pill, an escort on a walk to the store. Home Support is suppose to be a preventive service that, in tandem with informal care givers, helps vulnerable people to stay healthy in their home and involved in their community. Home Support is intended to serve more than individuals in need. It is suppose to act as a buffer against strain on our hospitals, long term care facilities, health personnel and provincial/territorial budgets.

Registered Nurses provide a continuum of nursing services designed to support consumers of all ages to remain in their homes during an acute, chronic or terminal illness. Goals for home care nursing can be preventative, curative, rehabilitative, palliative, or supportive. All nurses are involved in direct patient care, which includes health promotion and education, illness prevention, advocacy and the promotion of self-care. In addition, registered nurses, through case management, often have the responsibility to coordinate all home care services. Employing the nursing process (assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation), home care nursing encourages consumers and their families to be responsible for, and to participate actively in, their own care.

Licensed/Registered Practical Nurses, working as a member of the interdisciplinary team, uses the nursing process and nursing concepts to provide care to a diverse population of consumers, and their caregivers, within the community setting. LPNs base their practice on a solid foundation of nursing science, competencies, and professional judgment as it relates to health education, health promotion, prevention, rehabilitation and palliation to assist and support consumers and caregivers in achieving their optimum level of functioning.

Physiotherapists enable consumers to remain in their home by working to improve the mobility and functional independence of consumers in the home environment. They provide assessment and treatment, including education and pain control, for a variety of conditions related to cardio-respiratory, orthopaedic and neurological impairment or injury, and for cancer and arthritic conditions.

Occupational therapists enable the client to participate in daily activities (i.e., bathing, functional mobility, meal preparation, shopping) and support the role of family and caregivers. Occupational therapy services address physical, cognitive and affective components of functioning and include adaptive strategies to perform daily activities, assessment of safety and recommendation of equipment to help consumers maintain function and independence.

Case managers establish client eligibility for home care programs; assess the client's health, functional and social status; and establish the supportive service plan to assist consumers and their families to regain optimum health status or provide the required care, services and supports to ensure the client, caregivers, and/or the community are supported through complex disease issues and end of life care.

Other home care occupations include social workers, dieticians, respiratory therapists, speech/language pathologists, physicians and psychologists.