Nursing Assistant- VA Community Living Center Home Health

Summary

At the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System, Nursing Assistants play a vital role in delivering compassionate, hands-on care to Veterans in their homes. You will support daily living needs, promote safety and dignity, and collaborate closely with Registered Nurses to provide meaningful, mission-driven care that enhances the health, comfort, and independence of those who served our nation.

Duties

• In this home-based care role, you will provide direct support to Veterans who require assistance with daily living, mobility, nutrition, and personal care.
• Working directly in Veterans' homes, you will help maintain their independence, monitor changes in condition, uphold safety and infection control practices, and collaborate with the care team.
• This position requires maintaining a valid driver's license to travel to assigned homes while delivering high-quality, Veteran-centered care.
• Major Duties include, but are not limited to: Drive a government-issued vehicle to patient homes within a 60-minute radius of the Sioux Falls area; maintain safe driving practices, and adhere to all travel and documentation requirements.
• Provide care in a variety of home environments, including those that may be cluttered, unsanitary, or have known infestations; use appropriate infection control and safety precautions at all times.
• Provides personal care such as bathing, feeding, oral care, hygiene, and grooming.
• Assists with range of motion, ambulation, positioning, and turning.
• Utilizes principles of safe body mechanics in lifting, transfers, equipment handling, and care activities.
• Recognizes and properly uses equipment, materials, and supplies as delegated by the Registered Nurse (RN).
• Applies slings and braces when indicated.
• Prepares simple or light meals and reports any nutritional concerns to the RN.
• Observe skin integrity during personal care and immediately report any skin concerns, changes, or potential pressure areas to the RN.
• Performs light housekeeping tasks including dusting, sweeping, dishes, laundry, trash removal, and linen changes in the Veteran's home.
• Assists with bladder and bowel elimination, observes and reports function, and may apply condom catheters.
• Collects basic diagnostic specimens such as stool, urine, and sputum.
• Maintains accurate and timely documentation of daily care in the electronic health record and maintains required competencies including Basic Life Support (BLS).
• Maintains a valid driver's license for home visits.
• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Intermittent; Monday-Friday 7 a.m.
• Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
• Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid
• Federal holidays per year).Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
• Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
• Telework: Not available
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Physical requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position.
• Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.
• Driver's License: The Position requires the ability to operate a government vehicle and the ability to travel for 2 continuous hours in a vehicle.
• The incumbent will be expected to travel to patient homes within the Catchment area.
• The incumbent will also be required to maintain a valid driver's license, car insurance, First Aid certification and may need to transport Veterans as needed.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S.
• Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment.
• Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents).
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination/evaluation Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.
• In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the
• Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the
• Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. IMPORTANT: If basing all or part of your basic qualifications on education or training, an unofficial copy of college transcripts showing completion of one year of education above high school related to the Nursing Assistant occupation or documentation showing completion of an intensive, specialized, occupation-related course of study of less than one year as a nursing assistant is required to verify you meet the basic qualification requirements. If basing your qualifications on education at the GS-4 or -5 levels, you must submit a copy of all relevant transcripts with your application. You do not need to submit an official copy; however, your submitted transcript must include your name, name of school, name of program, total credits completed, date degree/certificate conferred. Your transcript will be reviewed for relevant coursework; therefore, the copy you submit must be legible. Candidates who do not yet meet the basic education requirement but are currently enrolled in a post high school technical school, junior college, college, or university completing coursework related to the Nursing Assistant occupation, must provide proof of enrollment at the time of application.

Required Documents

• To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:
• Candidates who do not yet meet the basic education requirement but are currently enrolled in a post high school technical school, junior college, college, or university completing coursework related to the Nursing
• Assistant occupation, must provide proof of enrollment at the time of application. Special Note for
• Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume
• This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.
• Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.
• The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position.
• Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former
• Federal employees), etc. DD-214/ Statement of Service Disability Letter (VA)
• Supplemental document with written responses to
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (See
• Qualifications section of announcement) Professional Certification Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript
• Transcripts may be required at the time of application, depending on how you meet the qualification requirements. Please see education section of this announcement for additional information. To receive full consideration for this position at the
• GS-4 and -5 levels, your application must clearly demonstrate the
• Knowledge, Skills and
• Abilities (KSAs) required by the Nursing Assistant Qualification
• Standard found in
• VA Handbook 5005/3, Part II, Appendix
• G46. What are
• KSAs? In the federal hiring process, Knowledge, Skills, and
• Abilities (KSAs) are a list of special qualifications and personal attributes that you need to have for a particular job/grade level (see
• Qualifications section of this announcement).
• Knowledge statements refer to an organized body of information usually of a factual or procedural nature which, if applied, makes adequate performance on the job possible.
• A body of information applied directly to the performance of a function.
• Skill statements refer to the proficient manual, verbal or mental manipulation of data or things.
• Skills can be readily measured by a performance test where quantity and quality of performance are tested, usually within an established time limit.
• Ability statements refer to the power to perform an observable activity at the present time.
• This means that abilities have been evidenced through activities or behaviors that are similar to those required on the job.
• Note that abilities are different from aptitudes.
• Aptitudes are only the potential for performing the activity.
• Although not required at the time of application, we highly recommend submitting a supplemental document with your written responses to the
• KSAs required at each grade level you wish to be considered. If you choose not to submit
• KSA responses, please ensure your resume includes details of your experience that fully demonstrate the required
• KSAs as described in the "Qualifications" section of this announcement.