Telling My Story to All Who Will Listen: Wisconsinites take DC

Tracy Dudzinski

On June 15, 2010, I was fortunate to be able to travel to Capitol Hill again. I was part of a delegation from Wisconsin who visited with Senator Herb Kohl’s office. There were six of us (see photo below), including myself, Susan Rosa (a family caregiver), Tracy Schroepfer (a geriatric social worker), Sharon Roth Maguire (a geriatric nurse practitioner), and Dr. Paul Drinka and Dr. Michael Malone (geriatricians). We were brought together by the Eldercare Workforce Alliance (EWA), founded by Leonila Vega of the Direct Care Alliance and others.

During the visit with Senator Kohl, I explained the importance of the direct care worker training program that was established as part of health care reform and asked that he fight to get money appropriated. I also advocated for training programs for workers. As a supportive home care agency, we have a hard time finding qualified workers. We actually hired a certified nursing assistant who had never given a bath – which we didn’t know before hiring her. We need better training because the specialized needs of consumers are increasing as people live longer.

Senator Kohl seemed surprised to learn that dog groomers and hair stylists have more training than direct care workers. I think that is unacceptable when we are dealing with people’s lives.

Each of us took our turn telling our story. It was encouraging to get so much face time with Senator Kohl. He has been a champion of the long-term care system and appears to understand the changes needed to improve direct care.

Wisconsin group meets with Sen. Kohl

Someone asked me after this trip why I would go to DC just for the day. I did not hesitate with my answer: I will never give up the fight to make things better for other direct care workers and the people we support. If my daughter wants to become a direct care worker I want it to be better for her. I will continue to tell my story to anyone who will listen for as long as it takes.