Even after 14 years, Norma Ford has not forgotten the challenge of looking for work. 

“It was hard; it was very hard.” The land of opportunity she pictured before emigrating from Guyana to New York “was not so,” Ms. Ford recalled recently. 

But she got a break after responding to a newspaper advertisement for a training course for home health aides. She has been working as an aide since.

Ms. Ford received instruction at Selfhelp Community Services, a social services provider in New York that has been training home health aides since 1977. The nonprofit Selfhelp, which mainly serves the elderly, has long sought trainees by seeking people who are having trouble finding work.

Though the pay for home health aides is low, demand is soaring. According to the Census Bureau, the population that is 65 and older — heavy users of the aides — is expected to almost double in the next 25 years, to 71.5 million. In New York City, employment opportunities for the aides are forecast to grow at three times the overall rate for all occupations, said Jim Brown, a labor market analyst with the State Department of Labor in Manhattan.

Although Selfhelp has long had success in recruiting job candidates, until recently it was having a hard time retaining them. Candidates must be 18 years old or older, pass drug screening and criminal background checks, be able to work legally in the United States, and show basic critical thinking skills during an interview and training.

“There was a significant dropout rate,” said Stuart C. Kaplan, chief executive of Selfhelp. A lot “didn’t make it through, or made it through, got employed, then three to six months down the road, didn’t stay employed,” he said.

In 2004, with grants from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and others, Selfhelp revised its program. Mentoring support and career monitoring and advice were added to help trainees graduate and remain employed. Since April 2004, more than 500 home health aides have taken part. “What’s unique about our program is we’re part of their lives,” said Cynthia Jenkins, 37, of Manhattan, who graduated from Selfhelp’s program six years ago. She is one of three full-time mentors.

During class time, she said, “every student knows when I close the door, that’s our cocoon, it’s our time.”

“I’m here for their questions,” she added. 

Having an outlet to discuss concerns and problems allows students to focus on their training and, ultimately, their jobs. 

Ms. Jenkins said many aides were on public assistance. “A lot are homeless and live in shelters,” she said. She recalled a time when a woman in an abusive marriage did not show up for class. “I called an agency and got her into a safe house. A few months after that, she moved into an apartment of her own.”

The program has two part-time training associates; they are working home health aides who attend class 60 hours a month to share work and life experiences with trainees.

Ms. Ford, who is one of the training associates, said: “I motivate them. I tell them they have the power to go out and do well.”

The staff assists trainees in ways that include obtaining a high school diploma, finding child care and avoiding eviction. Once trainees graduate and are working, mentors continue to monitor personal and work-related issues. The mentors keep track of the aides for one year, calling weekly, then every two weeks, slowly reducing contact.

Home health aides generally work for several patients, averaging three to four hours daily, though some work full time for one patient. They typically help patients with cooking, housekeeping and taking medicine. 

The training covers such basic medical topics as what symptoms to look for in a variety of diseases; nutrition and meal planning; home safety; and accident prevention.

Trainees must complete three weeks of classroom instruction and pass exams; they then get at least eight hours of supervised training in a patient setting before becoming state certified. Once employed, aides check in with supervisors by phone twice each workday, and are regularly monitored on site by registered nurses.

One recent morning, 16 trainees were learning to take blood pressures. “This is a very tricky skill. When I was at nursing school, nobody had a pulse or blood pressure,” said Kim Hone, a registered nurse and education coordinator, as the class laughed. “You eventually get it, and you get it through practice.”

Ayesha Ross of Manhattan had difficulty finding the pulse. “I had to ask Kim to show me, but finally I got it,” she said. She took the class because she had noticed so many newspaper advertisements for jobs that required home health aide certificates.

Joseph R. Williams, 49, of Manhattan, who has been looking for a job for about a year, previously worked for 12 years in the claims department of an insurance company.

He became interested in the field after volunteering at a rehabilitation center in Astoria where his 90-year-old mother lives. He said he found the elderly insightful, and enjoyed swapping stories and “uplifting their lives a little bit.” The residents, he said, have “been telling me, ‘You should be doing this.’ ”

“It makes me really want to push to make it a career,” he said.

It is too early to have firm data on the program’s effectiveness, but Vivian Torres-Suarez, chief operating officer of Selfhelp, said, “We’re seeing a gradual shift; aides are staying a little bit longer with us.” There has been an increase in the hiring rate and in the number of aides who stay with the organization after a year, resulting in less turnover.

Selfhelp home health aides receive standard benefits and earn $7.45 an hour upon graduation; after working 2,100 hours, the rate increases to $7.75. Patients are from all economic backgrounds; most of their fees are paid by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.

Though the salary is low, home health aides have “a great opportunity to get in at entry level and advance,” said Scott Zucker, deputy commissioner of work force development at the New York City Department of Small Business Services. 

Some aides go on to become registered nurses. 

Petronilla John-Lewis, 31, of Brooklyn currently works as a home health aide through Selfhelp, but expressed an interest in attending nursing school. The Selfhelp mentoring staff assisted with school applications and financial aid. Ms. John-Lewis said she now worked five days a week, some weekends, and attended nursing school afternoons and evenings at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. 

“I am determined to make a better life for myself and my daughter,” Ms. John-Lewis said, adding that she had no family nearby, was a single parent and was the first in her family to attend college. “Nothing is impossible in this life.”