Please help totally scared?

Well, I've been offered many gifts on my job too as a Home Health Aide before. I had to refuse them because it was the company policy not to accept any gifts. Even if you were off the clock, you are still the agency's HHA and you were working for that particular case. So yes, if they found out, you could be fired. You have two options: give the money back and apologyze for not being able to accept it, or just keep it and not tell anyone about it. I can perfectly understand the reason for this agency policy. When you work at a Home Health setting, people tend to ask you to do extra things that are not part of the agency contract. Then it's like a favor, but then there is your liability. It happened to me many times. I was offered many gifts, and thankfully I refused them. Then one day I was taking care of this older gentleman and his elderly wife was always there too, but HE was my patient. The daughter had to go somewhere and asked me to watch her mom for me too. I said, I apologyze but your dad is my patient, not your mom. She immediately called the agency to complain about it. Of course my manager stood by me because I was following company policies, and the daughter apologyzed later. But you see, if I had accepted a gift, she would have taken a revenge on me and told my manager she gave me a gift! You see how that policy really protects us?