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The field to be a home health aid is a wide-open field open to practically anyone willing to work hard.

"An elementary school education, an eighth-grade reading level and the ability to complete a training program by the Department of Health," says Vivian Torres of SelfHelp Community Services, listing the few qualifications.

Such a training program, which lasts several weeks, has students learn how to elevate and prep senior citizens by practicing on a medical mannequin, in a hospital room-like classroom.

The students also learned health aide basics, like taking blood pressure, monitoring general health signs and keeping the patient clean and comfortable.

"I think it's a stepping stone for them, I don't tell them it's a career," says Margie Laracuent of SelfHelp Community Services. "It opens doors for them, they can start off doing this training and there's so many other things for them to venture into, like become nurses."

"Some of them, it piques an interest in them, a desire that they didn't realize they had, to pursue careers in nursing and to go back for their [General Educational Development degrees]," says Torres.

Many of the home health aides find caring mainly for the elderly brings multiple blessings.

"My first patient was a 95-year-old lady," says Ilza Villar of SelfHelp Community Services. "I don't remember her name, but I know she was very lonely and I got to help her a lot."

"When you work with elderly people, you hear their stories," says home health aide Karen Henry. "I've worked with people from the Holocaust and it's pretty amazing when they lived through, so it's pretty great."

The home health aid system helps in other ways.

"It allows a lot of our seniors to stay home as opposed to going into nursing homes," says Laracuent.

It's not the highest-paying job, with wages just over $9 an hour. Yet home health aides are unionized, and receive health and pension benefits, sick leave, vacation and holiday pay.

There are several thousand home health aides and, given the aging demographics, room for several thousand more. Courses are conducted in Spanish and English.

At SelfHelp Community Service, they provide the coursework and training, and say they frequently place new home health aides within days of graduation.