John Booker
Why do we direct care workers care about staffing and the future of our workforce?
There are so many issues involved in developing a qualified and professional long term care workforce that the fundamentals of why we are needed can sometimes get lost. So as we at the National Association for Direct Care Workers of Color and our sister organization, the Indiana Care Givers Association, began to think about a theme for our 2009 conference, we decided to go back to the basics.
We wanted to remind ourselves and others why there must be a stronger effort to recruit and retain direct care workers, even if means adjusting state and federal regulations or reimbursement rates.
Without enough well trained, qualified workers, all the other challenges we face, such as low wages, too little affordable health insurance, and a lack of respect, would not mean much. There simply would not be enough of us to do the work, since too many would have burned themselves out. And the real losers in that scenario would be our elders and the members of our disability community.
That includes our military veterans who have become disabled. Yes, I know they have the services of the Veterans Administration. But when they leave the large VA rehab centers and transition to their own homes in the community, we must be prepared and trained to assist and serve these men and women who have sacrificed to serve us.
We are all our brothers’ keepers. As the pillars on which a major part of this country’s long term care delivery system rests, we direct care workers must do our part to improve the job and its image, so we can be sure that enough of our colleagues will be standing with us in the future.
John Booker
Board member
Direct Care Alliance
I couldn’t agree with you more. We as direct care workers need to stand up for our chosen profession and educate others about the important work that we do. The more we can educate the public the better off we will be. I hope that by standing up and telling our stories we will inspire other direct care workers to stand up and speak for themselves about the important work that they do. We need to stand up so things will change for those wha are entering the field of direct care. When our profession is respected for the important work we do I would think that we would be able to recruit and retain more workers. We all know that it takes someone special to do this kind of work and we want to keep the good ones.