This is a guest post from Voices Institute graduate Angel Saylor.
Angel Saylor (right)
Over 200 Certified Nursing Assistants and their allies came together in Charlottesville, Virginia, on February 16 to share ideas on improving the workplace. The conference was hosted by the Community Partnership for Improved Long-term Care, an initiative of the Legal Aid Justice Center. It brought together direct care workers, elders, advocates, employers, doctors, nurses and others to:
• Exchange information and best practices;
• Recognize the challenges and celebrate the accomplishments of long-term care workers and caregivers from all settings;
• Learn how to enhance professionalism, leadership and teamwork, and offer solutions to reduce turnover; and
• Participate in skills training for caregivers to better meet the needs of disabled persons and seniors living with the challenges of aging. Continue reading »
One of the best ways to become empowered is to get informed. When you’re informed about what’s happening in your state and across the direct care profession, you are better able to take action and have a voice in the decision-making process. I can’t tell you enough how important it is for you to get involved and speak out – you are not alone. There are over 3 million direct care workers in this country and over one million new positions are needed by 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to PHI, direct care workers in the U.S. will outnumber teachers from kindergarten through high school (3.9 million) and registered nurses (3.2 million) by 2018. In Pennsylvania alone, an additional 56,000 direct care workers will be desperately needed in the next five years. These facts are stunning and should encourage you to have a role in the movement for change.
This week, I wanted to call your attention to a few headlines. Continue reading »
The following is a guest post from Rebecca Livesay, Program Associate – Communications and Outreach for NCCNHR: The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.
Becka Livesay
NCCNHR, the Pioneer Network, ombudsmen programs, citizen advocacy groups, and others around the country are working to spread culture change principles and practices in our nation’s nursing homes. These principles are aimed at improving quality of life and care for residents by making nursing homes into true homes, not the medical-model institutions they too often are, with inflexible management hierarchies that put residents on the bottom of the pyramid.
To accomplish that goal, we must create a new role for direct care workers, valuing their work and relationships with residents and giving them more autonomy and decision-making power so they can deliver the individualized, “person-centered” care residents want and need. The traditional task-focused, almost assembly-line role assigned to nursing assistants in nursing homes actually gets in the way of delivering good care, forcing workers to do things like wake people up way to early to prepare them for meals or bathe them when they don’t want to be bathed. Continue reading »
We’re starting to coagulate as a direct care worker movement, and it’s more important than ever that we unite to get things done. This is an exciting time, but it calls for more strategic thinking.
Over the past year or two, I’ve been in many situations when direct care workers were connecting with each other. This can be incredibly inspiring. Many of us are compassionate people who are drawn to this kind of service work because we want to put our hearts into nurturing and supporting others. At direct care worker gatherings, I have watched us uplift, encourage and comfort one another, creating a spirit of loyalty and kindness and mutual respect. This is when we’re at our finest. But like anything, there are two sides. There are times when we’re at our best, and times when we’re at our worst. And because we’re at such a critical point in time, I wanted to offer some reflection and advice on focusing on our best selves. Continue reading »
I have been working with friends and allies across the state to push the Department of Health and Human Services to present the LEAN Report. After meeting with Senator Mitchell’s office and several others, it finally happened.
On February 24, Diana Scully, the Director of the Office of Elder Services, presented the report. She took the committee through the process we went through as part of the Lean Team and described the many issues workers face on a daily basis. We had reached consensus that the system’s seven programs should be consolidated into just three, and Ms. Scully outlined the changes that would need to take place. She also described the recommendation on rebalancing the funding of Maine’s Long-Term Care System so that home and community-based care receives as much funding as nursing home care. Continue reading »
We direct care workers are a very important and powerful group of individuals. At times, we actually hold the very power of life and death in our hands. Especially if we are CPR-certified or have some advanced training, we can perform interventions that make a profound, life-sustaining difference in a matter of moments.
And those skills, I’ve learned, apply to our own lives as well as our work.
When I was challenged, many years ago, with assisting my mother in her last days, I had no CNA training or experience. I had no idea how to help my mother or make her comfortable and myself safe, so we both suffered.
As a result of that experience, I became a professional direct care worker. I soon acquired a new set of skills, like how to take someone’s blood pressure and recognize its danger signs, how to measure a pulse or respiration rate and know what to make of the results, and how to position a bed-bound person. I also learned about things like the need for special diets and the importance of proper hydration – all important skills and knowledge for helping to maintain a person’s life.
A few years ago, I was called on that training for a purpose I had never anticipated: Caring for my wife during what became a long battle with cancer. In caring for her, I found that my direct care worker training and experience made me a much better caregiver, but it also brought me face to face with a terrible choice. Continue reading »
Is health care reform dead?
I can see why some people might think so. The Election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts ended the Democrats’ 60-40 “filibuster proof” majority in the Senate, which means at least one Republican must vote with the Democrats in order for the Senate to overcome delay tactics by the bill’s opposition.
Although the Democrats are unlikely to find that one Republican vote, health care reform is still alive. Since the Senate has already passed a health care reform bill, the House of Representatives could pass the Senate bill and incorporate elements of the House reform bill through a process called budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority vote and limits the number of hours of debate.
How health care reform impacts direct care workers
If uninsured direct care workers obtain coverage at the same rate as the entire uninsured population, the Senate bill would ensure coverage for hundreds of thousands of uninsured direct care workers. This is a very conservative estimate and the number of uninsured direct care workers would likely be higher as a result of some workers being covered under the Medicaid expansion and other subsidies for low- and middle-income families. In addition to covering many of the uninsured, these subsidies will relieve some of the financial pressures caused by health care costs for many direct care workers and their families. Continue reading »
On a recent trip to Maine, I sat down with Representative Matthew Peterson of District 92 to discuss his work on behalf of direct care workers in the state. He has worked in direct care for years, and is currently an Independent Living Specialist at Alpha One, a center for independent living. As an elected official, Matthew is able to advocate for change in direct care and believes it is an essential and valuable workforce. It is inspiring and encouraging – Matthew has linked his personal passion and commitment to independent living to advocating the need for a well-trained, respected and well-paid direct care workforce. Watch the brief interview I was able to record with Matthew, below.
Imagine if more disability leaders and independent living advocates joined the Direct Care Alliance and made their voices heard on the issues that matter. What if, like Matthew, you could advance change in your community, your state, and eventually, across the country? Continue reading »
We are excited to report that the Senate confirmed President Obama’s appointment of M. Patricia Smith as Solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor.
This is great news for direct care workers because Ms. Smith has a proven track record as a champion for American workers. In her new position, she will be responsible for enforcing national labor laws. The DCA is hopeful that she will make the extension of federal wage and overtime protections to home care workers a top priority once she takes office.
