If caring for other people sparks joy in your life, then you might find fulfillment in working as a home support worker. With the rapid growth of Canada’s aging population and the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people need help to go about their daily home activities. Read on to find out how you can make a rewarding healthcare career out of your compassion for those who are sick, injured, elderly, cognitively-impaired, and physically-disabled.

Home support workers must perform their social-service roles with sensitivity, respect for their patients, and consideration for their clients’ comfort and safety.

Home Support Worker Job Description in Canada

Home support workers provide clients the unique personal care they necessitate at their residence, where the home support worker may also reside. Aside from working at private households, a home and community support worker may also work for a home care agency, other residential settings, or be self-employed.

As frontliners who deal with the vulnerable sector, home support workers must perform their social-service roles with sensitivity, respect for their patients, and consideration for their clients’ comfort and safety.

Some of the job titles of a home support worker include:

• Resident Care Attendant
• Personal Care Assistant or Attendant
• Home Care Worker
• Personal Support
• Care Aide
• Family Caregiver
• Housekeeper
• Personal Aide
• Live-in Caregiver
• Respite Worker
• Companion
• Visiting Homemaker

Home Support Worker Duties and Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of a home support worker may involve the following:

• assisting clients with their daily activities
• helping with personal care
• managing the client’s household such as light house cleaning, washing the laundry and dishes, and making the bed
• planning and preparing meals
• providing watchful companionship and emotional support
• coordinating transportation for medical appointments and social or recreational activities
• giving medication reminders
• shopping
• observing the client’s physical and behavioral changes and reporting them to the client’s circle of care
• child minding

Home Support Worker Salary

According to Job Bank, home support workers in Canada earn an average of $17 per hour, which may go up to $23 per hour.

In Atlantic Canada, the wages and job prospects are as follows:

Job Bank projects a fair to good job prospect for the home support worker career.

How to Become a Home Support Worker

If you want to become a home support worker, you should get proper training to prepare yourself for this challenging career. Enroll in a home support worker course, where you can gain the knowledge, skills, and up-to-date experiential learning you need to successfully provide appropriate care to clients of all ages.

“Students must have a passion to help and provide care as this profession may not be everyone’s cup of tea.” – Divya Kuruvila, Home Support Worker Program Coordinator at Eastern College

To succeed in this client-focused career, students should have dedication, initiative, eagerness to learn, and a positive attitude, said Divya Kuruvila, Home Support Worker Program Coordinator at Eastern College. “They must have a passion to help and provide care as this profession may not be everyone’s cup of tea,” she added. “They should not underestimate the amount of work required to graduate from the program and become successful in the field.”

Eastern College offers an intensive 18-week Home Support Worker program, which allows graduates to become job-ready in less than 5 months. You will learn the healthcare foundations such as body systems, cognitive and mental health issues, brain injuries, personal hygiene, and nutrition. You will also be trained to implement a care plan, manage a household, deal with abuse and neglect, and assist a dying person.

For more information about this program, please visit the Home Support Worker program webpage.