Home health aides are a group of people trained to provide different forms of assistance to those who may require such help. For example, they provide help to people who may have age-related problems that may significantly decrease their ability to function normally and people who may be recovering from an illness or medical procedure as well as mentally challenged, disabled or very young people. Sometimes, they may be hired directly by the sick people or by the family of the sick people to care for their loved one, but they are usually hired by employment agencies to provide these services to their clients. Before they can provide these services, they usually need to obtain some kind home health aide certification that requires basic first aid and other basic healthcare knowledge as well as passing a health screening. Also, depending on the location, they may also need to pass a criminal background check.
Although the possession of a high school diploma is not necessarily needed in order to enroll for a home health aide certification, schools that grant these certificates may have other requirements that may be influenced by the kind of laws regarding the subject in the area. For example, the schools may insist on carrying out a background check on the applicants before they will allow them to enroll into the program due to the delicate nature of the job. Those who possess the home health aide certificate often work with helpless people, sometimes in their own homes, making it absolutely necessary to screen the candidates before they are allowed to obtain the home health aide certification. Those who have some criminal past may not be allowed to enroll in programs that will enable them obtain the home health aide certification since it is often seen as an endorsement of the individual to perform such services.
In the same sense, the candidates may also be required to perform some sort of health screening as part of the process of obtaining the home aid certification in order to ensure that they do not have any diseases that they will pass on to the clients. The home health aide certification process also requires training in some basic health subjects, including how to administer first aid. It also involves a study of the basics in human anatomy to help them understand their patients more as well as training on some basic medical lingo.