Home care is becoming an increasingly more popular choice for the elderly and the relatives in charge of arranging care for them.  Just last year, my grandfather’s second wife died, leaving him in no condition to be alone every day and night — so my mom and her siblings arranged for 24/7 home care.

Personally I think working in the home care industry would be ideal.  You can often choose your hours, depending on the company you work for, and you have just one client as opposed to dozens of patients to look after (as in a hospital or nursing home setup).  This offers a more relaxed and enjoyable work day, not to mention a career you can feel good about sticking with over the long term.

In order to become embark on a career you should have home health care training, for which this website is a good resource.  This includes things like fall prevention resources and elder abuse resources, both of which are important to know about when you work in the industry.  Other topics you will need to be knowledgeable on include nutrition and infection control.

This is definitely an industry that is not going to dry up anytime soon.  After all, who wants to spend their last days in a sterile, unfriendly nursing home?

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