If you’re compassionate, reliable, and looking for steady, meaningful work, home care might be the career you didn’t know you were looking for. New York State needs more Home Health Aides (HHAs) and Personal Care Aides (PCAs) every year, and the path to getting certified is more accessible than a lot of people expect. Here’s what the process actually looks like.

HHA or PCA — what’s the difference?

• Personal Care Aide (PCA): 40 hours of state-approved training, combining classroom instruction with hands-on practice. PCAs help with activities of daily living — bathing, dressing, meal prep, light housekeeping, mobility, and companionship — along with infection control basics and emergency procedures.
• Home Health Aide (HHA): 75 hours of state-approved training — 59 hours of classroom instruction plus 16 hours of supervised practical training, at least half in an actual patient care setting. HHA training covers everything in the PCA curriculum plus additional health-related tasks.

Many caregivers start as a PCA and go on to complete HHA training later — it’s a natural next step once you know the work suits you.

What training actually covers

New York State requires approved training programs to complete the full curriculum within 60 days of a candidate starting. Once training is complete and a candidate passes their competency evaluation, they’re added to the New York State Home Care Registry — the official record agencies use to verify a caregiver’s certification before hiring.

If you already have relevant experience — for example, you worked as a nursing assistant in a hospital within the last five years, trained as an aide in another state, or served as a military medic or medical technician — you may be able to qualify through a competency evaluation instead of completing the full training program. It’s worth checking with a training program directly, since eligibility depends on your specific background and documentation.

Once certified, HHAs need 12 hours of in-service training per year to stay current — most agencies, including ours, build this into your regular schedule so it’s never a scramble.

Why caregivers choose to work with Touch of Love Homecare

Certification gets you in the door. What keeps caregivers in this field — and with a particular agency — is usually about the day-to-day experience: Do you get consistent hours? Does the office actually pick up the phone when you call? Do you feel supported, not just scheduled?

At Touch of Love Homecare, we work with HHAs and PCAs across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, matching caregivers with clients and families who need consistent, dependable care. We aim to offer flexible scheduling, responsive office support, and the kind of steady client relationships that make this work sustainable — not just a job, but a career you can build.

• See open positions on our Careers page