Jane Lipscomb
Home care workers should be considered Tier 1 personnel — the highest priority – for swine flu vaccination in efforts to minimize the impact of H1N1 virus and other pandemic flu outbreaks, according to an article (PDF) in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
The article’s lead author is Sherry Baron, MD MPH, the coordinator for Priority Populations and Health Disparities at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The journal asked Dr. Baron, me, and our three coauthors to rush the article to press as part of a collection of articles that was published this month on how to prevent, prepare for, or treat pandemic influenza. DCA Executive Director Leonila Vega was an invited member of the workgroup that developed the recommendations.
“We’re really grateful that the CDC has focused attention on direct care workers, who work with millions of Americans, many of them with compromised immune systems,” says Leonila. “This points out how critical it is to include direct care workers – who often lack health care coverage and sick pay – in health care reform.”
The workgroup targeted several prevention measures at home care workers, including:
- Federal, state, and local pandemic preparedness planners should consider ways to help home health care workers protect their income; obtain access to health care, especially in light of their low rate of insurance coverage; obtain structural support for child care and transportation; and receive the necessary training for caring for clients.
- Home health care employers, the home health care workforce, community advocates, and labor unions need to establish communication networks and be integrated into the planning process.
- Improving annual seasonal influenza vaccination coverage among home health care workers will serve as an important component of a preparedness program.
- Communication materials for workers and their clients should be available in multiple languages and should incorporate simple text and clear illustrations.
- Many stakeholders recommended identifying a subgroup of workers who might volunteer to participate in a special influenza training program and who could serve as peer trainers and assist with communication and coordination during a pandemic.
In short, our report concludes that home care workers are a vital part of the health care infrastructure who should be integrated into all national plans for preventing and containing the disease. Home health workers, it says, should ”receive high priority for vaccinations, antiviral prophylaxis and treatment, and access to and training in respiratory protection, when indicated.”
Jane Lipscomb, RN, PhD
Board member, Direct Care Alliance
