Description

Wage Range Start: Up to $13.55

SUMMARY OF DUTIES:

The Personal Assistant will provide the support services needed to assist the persons that we serve in achieving a life of their own choices and dreams. They will serve as companions and advocates in aiding the persons served with community access and integration. The Personal Assistant will assure that daily living, medical and health, and safety needs are met. The Personal Assistant will be expected to implement policies and standards to meet the Licensing Rules, Certification, Contractual Obligations and Company Policy.

The persons served are people with special needs. Some persons served possess secondary disabilities or challenges including but not limited to; being blind or deaf, prone to seizures and may have other physical disabilities.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Meet and become involved in the circle of friends and supports in the life of the person served and be willing to go the extra mile.

2. Understand and implement the Personal Centered Plan including the dreams, desires, goals, and needs for each person served, making each person’s plan in the home individualized. This will include learning the person’s likes and dislikes and ways of communicating.

3. Motivate the persons served to explore more independent living opportunities in the residential site, work and community to the maximum of each person’s potential.

4. Support the persons served in acquiring the services they need/desire from the community e.g. shopping, haircuts, movies, swimming, church, recreational centers, banking, and restaurants. Encourage money-handling skills in acquiring community services.

5. Provide support and encouragement to the persons served in building and maintaining personal relationships with friends, family, peers, neighbors, and community services. Support persons to build natural bonds and develop personal interactions with disabled and non-disabled persons in their lives.

6. Be able to drive the persons we serve to work, community activities, doctor appointments, etc. Use the safety equipment as required for the persons’ individualized needs.

7. Support the persons served in maintaining a neat, clean, orderly, and attractive home. Assist them in personalizing their residential site. Assist the person we serve with minor repairs and maintenance.

8. Assist the person served in staying clean, well groomed and maintaining their clothing in a clean, fashionable manner. This may include bathing a person, fixing their hair and nails, dressing them, changing attends, toileting, washing, and ironing their clothing.

9. Support the person served in choosing healthy foods for their diet, preparing their meals and assisting with eating as needed. This may include preparing the right texture, feeding a person served or operating feeding equipment.

10. Support the persons served in maintaining good physical health, by accompanying them on medical appointments and securing prescriptions. This may include monitoring vital signs, signs and symptoms, administering medications and treatments, accompanying them with urgent care and hospitalizations as needed.

11. Provide documentation on support services provided to the persons served. This may include outings, outcomes, dreams and goals, medical services, medication administration, accidents and injuries.

12. Uphold the dignity and rights of each person served, and report any suspected abuse and neglect immediately.

13. Solicit and review the persons’ satisfaction of the agency’s services.

14. Be knowledgeable in safety procedures for the safety and well being of each person served such as First Aid, CPR, and unusual incidents.

15. Be knowledgeable in safety and emergency procedures for the residential site, vehicle, and community. Know how to respond to fire, tornado and severe weather plans. Teach the persons that we serve safety and emergency procedures.

16. Implement Universal Precautions, Infection Control and Blood Borne Pathogens Control for the health and safety of the persons served and of the employees.

17. Participate in a positive employee work environment, being polite, courteous, and considerate to the persons served, other employees, managers, and agency personnel.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. The actual hiring of a Personal Assistant is based on the qualifications of the applicant, as determined at the sole discretion of the employer.

2. Any Personal Assistant hired must be at least eighteen (18) years of age.

3. The Personal Assistant must be able to implement the job description.

4. The Personal Assistant must be able to complete required reports and follow written and oral instructions that are related to the care and supervision of the persons served:

• Reporting Requirements
• First Aid
• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
• Personal Care, Supervisor, and Protection
• Residents Rights
• Safety and Fire Prevention
• Prevention and Containment of Communicable Disease

5. The Personal Assistant must be suitable to meet the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social needs of each person served.

6. The Personal Assistant must be capable of appropriately handling urgent and emergency situations.

7. The Personal Assistant must be in such physical and mental health so as not to negatively influence either the health of the person(s) served or the quality of his or her care.

8. Must have adequate transportation to get to and from work.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS (Essential Job Functions):

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Personal Assistant to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:

Lifting/Carrying: Sitting Twisting Color Vision

 Sedentary 0-10 lbs Standing/Walking Pulling/Pushing Hearing

 Light 10-20 lbs Climbing Stairs Simple Grasping Talking

 Moderate 20-50 lbs Kneeling Reaching above shoulder

 Heavy 50-65 lbs Bending/Stooping Visual Acuity

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. This environment may have more or other conditions not presented here.

This job requires driving a vehicle, operating a wheelchair lift, and securing wheelchair tie downs in a variety of weather conditions. It requires simple maintenance to the vehicle and vehicle wheelchair equipment.

While performing the duties of this job, the Personal Assistant may work with household appliances, home maintenance, and patient care equipment such as wheelchairs, hospital beds, mechanical lifts, shower trolleys, and breathing devices.

The Personal Assistant will come in contact with household cleaning products and disinfectants; communicable or contagious diseases; acute or chronic illnesses, or radiation on medical appointments.

The Personal Assistant may need to be a food handler.

TRAINING:

The Personal Assistant must be able to attend, understand, successfully complete and implement training or in-services directed by licensing, certification, contractual agencies and by Quest, Inc.

SUPERVISION AND REPORTING:

As a Personal Assistant your immediate supervisor shall be the ASSISTANT MANAGER and /or the MANAGER of the designated residential setting. Your concerns and questions may also be brought to the attention of the Area Supervisor assigned to the residential site.