Job Summary:
- Provides non-medical personal care and assistance with Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), housekeeping tasks, help with preparing meals, companionship and assistance with quality time activities, medication reminder and recording, and other related supportive services aimed to enhance the client’s quality of life, safety, and healthy living at home.
- Observes, records and reports activities and changes to the administrator.
- Must demonstrate competence in performing the necessary skills and only perform those skills described in the Service Plan for each assigned client.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assists client with bathing, dressing and grooming
- Assists client with toileting, including use of bedpan, commode or toilet
- Assists client with transfers and ambulation including use of cane, walker, and wheelchair
- Assists client with medication reminders and recording, as specified in the Service Plan
- Performs home management tasks including housekeeping and laundry for the client, including making/changing the client’s bed; dusting; washing dishes, pots, pans and utensils that are used in preparing and serving the client’s meals; cleaning kitchen counters, cupboards and appliances, including oven, and stove top burners; cleaning inside refrigerator; gathering up trash from inside the home and putting it out for pick up; cleaning bathroom fixtures; sweeping floors and vacuuming carpets; watering indoor plants; and providing basic pet care if indicated in the Service Plan.
- Plan, prepares and serves meals, with assistance from the clients (when they are able). Utilize USDA MyPlate guidelines and ingredients that are available in the home. Adhere to simple modified diets according to instruction and assist client with feeding, as necessary.
- Assists with shopping and errands, and provides transportation and accompaniment within the guidelines of the organization
- Be a pleasant and supportive companion and motivates client to engage in quality time activities, as appropriate;
- Report any unusual events or occurrences to the administrator
- Act quickly and responsibly in cases of emergency
- Completes all other duties within the Service Plan and Service Agreement.
Qualifications:
- Proven experience as a caregiver
- Excellent knowledge of emergency response and first aid (CPR). Possess CPR certification or agree to acquire CPR certification within 3 months of hire date.
- Knowledge of housekeeping activities and healthy meal preparation, with attention to dietary constraints of common chronic diseases.
- Willingness to adhere to health and safety standards.
- Respectful and compassionate manner.
- Good time management skills and ability to work independently.
- Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills
- Interest and commitment to team work to ensure quality services and a successful business.
- Adequate physical endurance
Requirements:
- Complete the Business Institute/Caregiver Cooperative Workshops
- Complete “Customized Training for New Mexico Caregivers” training session, provided by New Mexico Caregivers Coalition (NMCC)
- Have a phone or a way to communicate to the office daily
- Submit to a Caregiver Criminal Background Check. The Caregiver Criminal History Screening Program (CCHSP) is operated within the New Mexico Department of Health – Division of Health Improvement and is required by the State of New Mexico.
- Provide a copy of a valid driver’s license and proof of automobile insurance
- Submit to a motor vehicle history check
Worker/Owner Description & Position Benefits:
Caregivers that work for Heart is Home Cooperative Care are also owners of the business. This means that caregivers participate in decisions that are made about business practices and share in profits that are gained by the business.
- Caregivers have a responsibility to attend member meetings. Through member meetings, election of Board of Directors takes place, and discussions about issues such as wage increases, training requirements, expansion into other places in the state or into other types of services, takes place. Final decisions are made by the Board of Directors and are influenced by the discussions and preferences expressed by its members.
- Caregivers have the opportunity to serve in leadership positions, such as a member of the Board of Directors, as part of a committee, or as a training coordinator or other leadership role in the business.
- Caregivers, as worker-owners of the cooperative business, will benefit from a “patronage” system, which is a redistribution of business profits (income over and above expenses) based on an equitable distribution plan. The redistributed profits are called “patronage dividends.”
Cooperative businesses like Heart is Home are different from other business entities in three ways: member ownership, member control, and member benefit. A cooperative is an enterprise where ownership, control, and benefit are all held by the same group of people: the cooperative members. Caregivers are the cooperative members at Heart is Home Cooperative Care.