POSITION TITLE: DIRECT CARE AIDE/MEDICATION AIDE

PROGRAM: ARTS

REPORTS TO: Residential Supervisor

SUPERVISES: N/A

SUMMARY OF POSITION: The Direct Care Aide supports individuals with daily living, safety, and recovery needs. Key responsibilities include assisting with behavior support, personal care, independent living skills, and coping strategies. The role involves communicating with outside providers and family, helping clients work toward individual goals, maintaining a clean and orderly environment, documenting daily progress, and administering medications and treatments under nursing direction after completing required medication training.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSE/TRAINING:

Must have a high school diploma or GED.

• 
  WORK EXPERIENCE:

At least one year of related experience. Ability to teach daily living skills and complete documentation consistently. Able to respond to crises, make sound independent decisions, work cooperatively, and adapt to changing needs. Self-motivated with interest in ongoing professional growth and applying new learning on the job.

• KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

1. Must have consistent and predictable work attendance.

2. Must be organized, able to work well with people and as a team player.

3. Must be in designated uniform during working hours.

4. Must have strong customer service skills.

5. Excellent interpersonal skills and social perceptiveness. Ability to properly assess, respect, and monitor those served to ensure health and safety.

6. Display a positive, flexible, and cooperative attitude towards clients, supervisors, and co-workers.

7. Ability to function in a home-like setting with minimal supervision.

8. Flexibility in working 12- hour shifts, weekends, holidays, and call-in shifts.

9. Knowledge of health and safety precautions include CPR, basic first aid, and crisis intervention.

10. Must be able to walk and stand for extended periods. Must be able to reach with hands and arms, feel objects, use tools and controls, hear, talk, and speak English. Occasionally, the employee is required to sit, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and get up and down off the floor.

11. Must be able to exert up to 75 lbs. of force occasionally and exert up to 50 lbs. of force frequently to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects including the human body.

• 
  OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

• Must be able to successfully pass State, Federal, and Central Registry background checks.
• Must have a valid Virginia’s driver’s license, good driving record, and proof of personal auto insurance.
• Must maintain current certification in basic first-aid, CPR, and provide annual TB Assessment.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES:

• Observes and reports any change in the client’s mental, physical or emotional condition to immediate supervisor in a timely manner.
• Maintains a working knowledge of all policies and procedures pertaining to the position.
• Establishes and maintains effective, cooperative working relationships with staff, clients, their families, and other agency representatives.
• Implement social activities for group participation. Initiates client involvement in group activities.
• Completes required documentation of services delivered and submits it to the office in a timely manner.
• Housekeeping of the facility and general tasks to maintain a clean, safe and healthy living environment.
• Meal Preparation and errands.
• Actively engages clients in activities, ADLs, and other supports to encourage functioning at their highest level of independence.
• Ability to supervise clients by effectively communicating instructions, providing solution-oriented strategies and resolving conflicts. Make rounds to check on clients as assigned during shift.
• Assists clients with activities of daily living as assigned. Assistance with activities of daily living include, but are not limited to:

• Ensuring clients have resources for bathing, dressing, and grooming (including nail care, combing hair, brushing teeth, shaving, etc.), and assistance with cleanliness and maintenance of the living areas. Toileting (includes incontinent care)
• Supervision to and from the dining room, activities, or appointments or transitioning facilities.

• Administers CPR and first aid as needed.
• Assists in orienting new employees.
• Accompany client and provide incidental transportation to doctor’s appointments, community trips, bank, etc. as required.
• Maintains strict confidentiality regarding pertinent client information.
• Participate in all in-service training, required certification trainings, and staff meetings as requested by the immediate supervisor. Ensures compliance with all annul training and employee file documents.
• Conduct facility required drills and safety precaution exercises.
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

EQUIPMENT, TOOLS AND WORK AIDS:

Working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite products to include Outlook, MS Teams, and SharePoint.

FLSA Status:

Non-exempt /Hourly; eligible for overtime. Hours as assigned.

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly in an office type setting and residential facility type setting with varying degrees of background noise, usually less than moderate. The employee is routinely required to sit and remain in the seated position; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl and get up and down off the floor. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Lighting and ventilation are available as found in an office environment or normal residential facility setting. Smoking is not permitted inside any company owned/operated facility or vehicle. The employee may occasionally work in outside weather conditions and is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds and infrequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

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This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the jobholder. He/she will be required to follow any other instructions or perform any other duties as requested by his/her supervisor or manager. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.