Don't Get Caught as an Uncertified Caregiver

Why is it important to spend the money to acquire caregiver certification? Better yet, why is it important to be certified at all? Well, the answers are relatively obvious, but let us go ahead and review them anyway. But, before we do this, let us first briefly cover a few of the places in which you might be working as an adult caregiver.

When you set forth to become a caregiver there are number of venues in which you might find yourself working in. Probably the most common place is what we call the “mom and pop” adult care home, or as they are commonly referred to today; ‘assisted living facilities’. The mom and pop care home typically has somewhere between 5-10 residents living in the facility and is operated by a manager/owner, or you will see ‘absentee’ owner that designates a licensed manager to run the facility, who also acts as a caregiver, along with a few other full and/or part-time caregivers. There are, of course, the mid-range facilities, and larger corporate owned facilities that you could also find yourself employed with at some point, depending on your particular goals.

In addition to working for someone else, you might opt to work as a private duty caregiver. Private duty caregiver work has become more popular in recent years, and this trend will presumably continue as more and more of our elderly population desire to stay at home and remain independent as long as possible.  Cost is another reason for many seniors wanting to reside at home as long as reasonably possible.

In any of the aforementioned workplace venues you will need to be certified, regardless if someone else tells you different. The reasons, as we said on the outset, are rather obvious, but let us now go ahead and go through some of the reasons for becoming a certified caregiver. First and foremost, you are probably not going to have an opportunity to acquire gainful employment as a caregiver unless you are a certified caregiver. Everything else after this is a mute point if you are not certified and hope to find legitimate employment.

Secondly, you need the skills and knowledge of a caregiver if you are going to be working as a caregiver. That is, you cannot reasonably expect to walk into a facility of any type and properly care for someone at a high level without adequate training and certification. Yes, there are many people who work as uncertified caregivers and know their jobs well, but this doesn’t excuse the need and requirement for certification.

Third, obtaining caregiver certification tells those around you that you care about obtaining the tools and knowledge necessary to perform your duties in a professional manner.  Lastly, it gives your clients, residents, and families peace of mind knowing that you have taken the time to acquire caregiver certification.  Finally, this post would not be complete if we did not at least mention that there are other reasons why certification it necessary, one of which concerns  insurance.

That is, many insurance organizations will not compensate caregivers unless they are certified.  This is especially true with respect to private duty caregiver work.  So, what does all of this mean? Right, it means you need to get your caregiver certification if you do not have it.