What is The PCA Program And Do You Have One In Your State
The PCA program (personal care attendant) is set up to help people who no longer can care for themselves but want to stay in their homes and not go into a nursing home. The program can work two ways, the family can hire a person who is a PCA to care for their loved ones or a family member or care giver can become a PCA for their loved one, but a husband cannot be a PCA for his wife and his wife cannot be her husband PCA. Also it can be used if you have a child who is handicap you could hire a PCA to care for them.
You may want to check and see if in your state it is set up like this, because I am telling you how it works in my state to give a outline of what the PCA program is and how it can help out families .Also you can find on your states PCA site people who are register there has PCA’s that you can hire to care for your love ones, but you will need to be on the PCA program first .Run a search for the PCA program in your state to see if your state does have one .
Massachusetts State PCA Progran Web Site
Hiring a PCA to care for a love one will cost you no out of pocket money, it is a state funded program that will pay the PCA to care for your family member, and to it will pay a family member to do the same thing. If you are already a family members care giver then it will be much easier to become that person’s PCA and you may only have to be certified in CPR.
Talk to your family member’s doctor or nurse practitioner and see if the PCA program is right for your family member, it will help in the long run if the physician or nurse practitioner or both approve the idea of a PCA for your love one, it will also help when the state sends a team from the PCA program to conduct an evaluation, which will describe your love one’s personal care needs in detail, and recommend how many hours of PCA services they may need each week. and then it will be sent to the state program team to determine if the PCA services will be approved for you.
You can get PCA services in your home even if you have other services such has, Visiting Nurse, Occupational or Physical Therapy, or Home Health Care services.
Tasks a PCA my do in a person home will depend on the care your family member may need, but here are just a few thing that a PCA could be required to do .
PCAs can help with these activities
• Mobility and Transfers
• Medications
• Bathing and grooming
• Dressing and undressing
• Range of Motion exercises
• Help with Eating
• Toileting
• Shopping
• Laundry
• Meal Preparation
• Housekeeping
The PCA program is set up so that the individual with the disability is the employer. Much different from more common home health care programs in which an agency provides the worker. The PCA program is designed to give individuals with disabilities control over how their own personal care needs are met and who they will hire to help them with the things that they can no longer do by them self any more .
Many elders and people with disabilities of all ages need assistance with their personal care needs and other daily activities. They need to hire a personal care assistant, or PCA .
Do you have what it takes to be a PCA ? Check the list below to see.
Do you: Have patience and common sense
Feel that individuals with disabilities are entitled to the same support, respect, and quality of life as anybody else
Want to do work that is personally enriching and rewarding, than you may have what it takes to be a PCA, maybe for a family member or even a friend . Check out what the requirements in your state are for becoming a PCA or for getting PCA services for your family member, it is a better way to provide great care for the ones you love and still keep them in their homes and with no cost to you .
