Services for People with ALS

At BAYADA Home Health Care, we strive to ensure that clients receive the highest quality care in their homes, while maintaining individual’s independence and dignity. As people with ALS care needs change over time, BAYADA Clinical Managers will assist clients in identifying new or additional services that they may need. For example, when a client with ALS requires the skilled care of a nurse, the BAYADA care team will discuss and facilitate the transition to Adult Nursing services with clients and their family. All BAYADA Care professionals undergo a rigorous hiring process and receive ongoing supervision and training by a registered nurse.

Assistive Care Services

BAYADA Assistive Care provides non-medical assistance with activities of daily living for people with ALS when the disease has made it difficult to manage everyday tasks on their own. BAYADA assistive care specialists include Home Health Aides, Certified Nursing Assistants, Homemakers and Companions. BAYADA is proud to be one of the only Home Health Care providers in the nation to mandate an extensive 7-part in-service program specifically for aides caring for people with ALS.

Care is typically provided in shifts (two hours or more) on an on-going basis. Our personal care aides are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Services include:

  • Assistance with communication devices such as a symbol and picture board or iPads
  • Dressing and grooming with the use of adaptive equipment such as button hooks or zipper pulls
  • Safe bathing and toileting with immobile clients
  • Assistance with safe walking, repositioning and transferring
  • Meal preparation and assistance with eating and nutrition
  • Light housekeeping such as vacuuming, dusting, washing and folding laundry and trash removal
  • Shopping for groceries and other minor errands
  • Medication and appointment reminders (only when permitted by local regulation and within the scope of practice)

Adult Nursing Care Services

Adult Nursing care services are provided by registered nurses and licensed practical nurses who are highly experienced and knowledgeable professionals who specialize in home health care. BAYADA Nurses help people with ALS with their needs broadly ranging from management of ALS to tracheostomy and ventilator care. BAYADA is currently working to develop a specialized training program for nurses about the unique needs of our people with ALS. It is expected to be available for our nurses in 2015.

Care is typically provided in shifts (two hours or more) on an on-going basis. BAYADA Nurses are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Services include:

  • Management of a tracheostomy, using a ventilator as well as suctioning care
  • Nutrition via a feeding tube
  • Assistance with communication devices such as a symbol and picture board or iPads
  • Development of bowel programs
  • Assistance with mobility while managing energy reserves
  • Administration of medications and treatments, including IV

Therapeutic Care

BAYADA Therapeutic services are provided by physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists who are highly experienced and knowledgeable professionals. Therapeutic staff can help people with ALS manage ALS safely at home to increase their independence and comfort. Care is provided for a limited number of visits, usually one hour each.

BAYADA Physical Therapy services include:

  • Prescription of ambulatory devices
  • Range of motion and stretching therapies to prevent pain
  • Assistance with transfers using a Hoyer lift or other lifts

BAYADA Occupational Therapy services include:

  • Assistance with activities of daily life through the use of compensatory strategies, adaptive devices and modifications within the home
  • Provide therapeutic interventions to help maximize independence

BAYADA Speech Therapy services include:

  • Assistance with communication using augmentative communication devices
  • Maintenance of communication using augmentative communication devices
  • Assessment and treatment of swallowing disorders
  • Recommendations to reduce the risk of aspiration

Hospice

BAYADA Hospice focuses on a holistic team approach to providing care to people with ALS. Hospice includes medical care and symptom and pain management as well as emotional and spiritual support to people with ALS and their loved ones who need support through the end-of-life process. Hospice care professionals include nurses, physicians, therapists, social workers, and home health aides who specialize and are trained in comfort and end-of-life care.

People with ALS are eligible for hospice if they have been given a life-expectancy prognosis of six months or less, as certified by a physician and have chosen not to pursue aggressive therapies such as a tracheostomy and ventilator. Hospice services include:

  • Nursing and physician care
  • Social work and counseling
  • Spiritual care based on values
  • Bereavement support
  • Respite care and companionship
  • Therapies
  • Palliative care

Hospice also provides medical equipment, medical supplies and medication related to the primary hospice diagnosis and related conditions to people with ALS.


At BAYADA, we understand that coordination and communication is essential to ensure the highest quality of care for our people with ALS. To fulfill this goal, your BAYADA care team will work closely with your physicians, family and community resources such as, The ALS Association.

ALS Training Program

Our goal at BAYADA is to be recognized as the provider of choice for people with ALS by providing the highest quality care possible. To reach this goal, a team of BAYADA Nurses created a seven part-training program to enhance the knowledge and skill level of BAYADA Home Health Aides that care for people with ALS, which is now available in BAYADA offices. We are currently in the process of developing a training for our nurses as well that is expected in 2016.

As BAYADA continues to advance ALS-specific care programs, clients and their families can expect specialized ALS-specific case management and care services to meet the unique challenges that they face every day living with this disease.

The ALS training for BAYADA Home Health Aides was reviewed by 18 clinical professionals from BAYADA, The ALS Association, and ALS Certified Centers of Excellence.

The seven modules for both versions of the training include:

  • Understand the challenges of Speech and Communication difficulties, signs and symptoms of speech loss, and the use of alternative communication tools
  • Recognize the signs and symptoms of troubled Swallowing and Nutrition, how to assist clients with oral feedings, and increase nutrition and caloric intake
  • Identify red flags and implications of difficult Elimination and how to maintain a bowel routine
  • Acknowledge the most under-recognized causes of pain for people with ALS, how and why to utilize specific techniques to manage the client’s Pain and Comfort
  • Learn how to care for the client with Respiratory difficulties; know the different invasive and non-invasive treatment options and understand the challenges families face throughout the progression of respiratory failure of their loved ones
  • Be compassionate toward the Psychosocial impact of ALS and how the client and their families must cope with continuous loss of functional abilities and changes in family dynamics
  • Understand best practices for caring for the client with compromised Mobility, including the impact on performing activities of daily living and safe transfers

“This series of educational modules provides a comprehensive foundation to deliver care and support to those diagnosed with ALS and their families.”

Cynthia Knoche, National Director of Chapter Services

Are you a Veteran?

the american flagMilitary veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS as the general public. BAYADA has been caring for veterans with ALS for decades and has established relationships with many local Veterans Administration Offices all over the country. Click here to find a VA near you.