Home Health and Personal Care Aides

I. JOB SUMMARY

Main Topic: Human Geography
Secondary Topic: Places and Regions

Overview: Home Health and Personal Care Aides assist people living with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or older individuals who need assistance, complete their day-to-day tasks from their own homes. Along with daily tasks such as cooking meals, transportation to errands, cleaning and household chores, they may also work as Home health aides, who specialize in providing medical care to patients in their home. Home health aids may distribute medications, providing basic first aid, and checking the patient’s vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate. Health issues and diseases are often distributed geographically, for example: locations where mining is prevalent, or close to chemical and gas plants often see increases in lung disease or certain types of cancer. Home health aides who know the geographic distribution of illnesses and are able to read interactive web maps would benefit from knowledge over where certain disease are more common. Certain cities within states are also highly coveted retirement communities, so personal care aides may be clustered in those communities, as the need for those services is higher than others.

Geographers at work:  Health Geographers, Human Geographers

Recommended College Courses:  Introduction to Cultural Geography, Geography of Health, Location Analysis

Skills: Human Geography, Cultural Geography, Communication Skills, First Aid

Occupation Group: Healthcare

Learn more about Home Health and Personal Care Aides from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home-health-aides-and-personal-care-aides.htm