A good nurse does more than help residents of Sherman Oaks and elsewhere with their physical symptoms – they also know that they can have an important role in improving their mental and emotional health as well, especially those receiving in-home care.

The team at Accredited Home Care has been working with clients in Southern California since 1980. In many cases, our home health care services allow clients to stay in their homes and enjoy their independence instead of having to relocate.

Being able to stay in their homes can make a big difference in how clients feel about life and often help their healing. Though there are care situations when a rehabilitation facility or an assisted living community is a recommended choice for someone in poor health or certain advanced conditions, many clients would prefer not to move unless it is medically necessary.

Being able to receive home health care services can also be a good experience for different types of nurses or as well as other health and wellness specialists and therapists. Caregivers can come as needed throughout the week, or in some cases, caregivers can stay there around the clock.

This type of care can be especially useful to a Licensed Vocational Nurse who is seeking all sorts of experiences working with clients, especially those with different health needs.

Though we always welcome Registered Nurses and are proud when some of our employees complete their training to become certified as an RN. But we especially enjoy it when LVNs want to join our team and provide quality care for our clients. We’re happy to provide them with the experience of working with all sorts of clients with all sorts of conditions and will also encourage them to continue to learn and study if they want to earn more certifications or specializations in the future.

Types of care

LVNs and RNs have both received a good deal of training in helping others during the course of their education. In some cases, students seeking RN credentials decided to stay in school longer while many LVNs were excited to get out and start working clients and gaining practical experience.

There are all sorts of areas of interest, but some clients that many LVNs have the opportunity to work with are those with various dementias. Often, it’s Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive neurological condition that includes mental impairment, physical changes, and emotional changes as the brain deteriorates.
To a caregiver, especially an LVN, there are some positive reasons why this can be a satisfying area to offer care to.

It’s a new subject area, to some degree. Great strides have been made in Alzheimer’s knowledge over the last few decades. There’s a lot of research still going on and a lot that has been learned in even the last few years. Though your client or clients may not be taking part in any official studies, it can still be a good way for you to observe how the disease progresses and what steps clients can take to delay the onset of some symptoms. Then you’ll have the knowledge and direct observations you can share with future clients since the disease is likely to continue.

You can help people where they feel most comfortable. Some nurses may enjoy being part of a medical center environment, but clients usually prefer to be home where they can be surrounded by all of their possessions and family. So in these cases, an LVN will be able to see a patient being a little more relaxed in their own space. This might improve their attitude as well as promote better healing.

It can provide a change of scenery. Home health nurses may visit several clients throughout the week. This means different environments all the time, rather than the same medical center or clinic all the time. This can be a fun challenge to see how different clients arrange and decorate their homes – it can even be a conversation topic to discuss certain furnishings or special knick-knacks.

\Great conversations. Home health clients may be more eager to discuss deeper topics with a nurse who visits regularly. Since Alzheimer’s is a progressive, ultimately fatal disease, they may have all sorts of fears and concerns about what the future holds or how their abilities will decrease.
Clients and families appreciate it. This can be a difficult time for everyone, but a compassionate LVN willing to work with someone at such a difficult point in their life can make a lot of people happy.

Learning more

Whether you’re familiar with Alzheimer’s disease or want to learn more, this is an excellent opportunity to do so. November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Month. when people are encouraged to find out about local resources for dementia and ways to be more aware of people in their community with the disease and services available for them.
This observance has taken place for the past 35 years, and for an LVN, it’s a great opportunity to learn more as well. Let us know how we can help!