If you’re looking into care for a loved one, you will run into two types of services: home care, which we offer, and home health, which we do not. There is one main difference that we will touch on in a second, but they are not mutually exclusive. They can work together through different agencies.
The key difference
Home care is strictly non-medical. Our caregivers cannot dispense medication, although we can assist with medication reminders and medication self-administration. But we can’t do any injections, hand our clients medicine or anything that is even close to giving our clients medications. The highest qualifications our caregivers will typically have are Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and while they are vital pieces of a care team, they are not solo practitioners. The clients who will most benefit from having a CNA caregiver are those who have specialized medical equipment at home.
Home health is medical care and is undertaken by nurses, usually. A home health nurse will be a fully licensed RN or LPN. They can do injections and run routine checks on you like a blood pressure check. They can also dispose of needles, which we cannot do as a home care agency.
Working together
In many cases, a client will clearly need either home health or home care, but they can be combined. For example, sometimes people will have a home health nurse who checks on them once or twice a month while having one of our caregivers see them multiple times a week.
Do you have any questions about home care? Let us know down below!
Written by Brigid Coffey
