Personal care

Dignity is a procedure, not a sentiment

Every agency says it treats people with dignity. What that actually means is a set of habits that either exist or do not: asking before touching, keeping the person covered during a wash, narrating what happens next so nothing is a surprise, and never carrying on a conversation over someone’s head while they are being helped.

Those habits can be taught and checked, and we check them as part of our quality reviews.

Transfers are where people get hurt

The assessment records how the person transfers, what equipment is needed, and whether one caregiver is enough. That goes into the care plan the caregiver sees before the task. If the plan says two people or a lift, one caregiver does not improvise alone.

What “observe and report” means

A care aide is not a nurse and must not act as one. What a care aide is uniquely placed to do is notice: that the swelling in an ankle is new, that a person who normally chatters has been quiet for two visits, that there is less food gone from the fridge than last week.

Those observations are recorded at the visit and reviewed by our office, and families with permission see them too.