The following is a guest post from Nancy Hooyman, Co-Principal Investigator for the Council on Social Work Education’s Center for Gerontological Social Work Education and Dean Emeritus and Hooyman Endowed Professor in Gerontology, University of Washington School of Social Work.
Nancy Hooyman
The vitally necessary Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act is deserving of the support from a wide range of stakeholders – social workers, other eldercare providers, those committed to social justice as well as those focused on the economics of long-term care. Direct care staff are second only to families as the primary providers of long-term care — the “hands, voice, face” and core of the long-term care system. The care they provide is “high-touch” intimate, personal, and physically/emotionally challenging (Harahan and Stone, 2009; Institute of Medicine, 2008). These hands-on providers are expected to be compassionate yet usually do not feel prepared, respected, or appreciated, in part because our society does not value the socially and economically important work of caregiving.
Supporting this Act is also a matter of social justice and congruent with social work’s commitment to improve the lives of historically disadvantaged groups. The intersections of gender, race, and immigration status are reflected in the low status and negative work conditions of direct care workers. Advocates for women’s equity should also support this Act; nine out of ten of direct care staff are women, oftentimes single mothers, with minimal education, frequently holding more than one job but still living in poverty or near-poverty, and increasingly dependent on food stamps and other public benefits to get by. The Act is also an issue of racial justice Continue reading »
On August 1, 2010, the New Mexico Caregiver Coalition hosted a multi-stakeholder meeting with the Direct Care Alliance. Leonila Vega, DCA’s Executive Director, met with employers, advocates, staff and New Mexico Caregiver Coalition members. We learned a lot about national trends, workforce development and policy objectives of DCA.
For us, it was an opportunity to share updates on our local work with DCA, the national advocacy voice for workers in long-term care. We discussed the needs of New Mexicans to reform our long-term care system and address the needs of workers in this state. Trends show that New Mexico has and continues to attract many retirees and that the demand for direct care continues to increase. The New Mexico Caregiver Coalition is the leading voice to develop and support caregivers so our elders have a well-trained, ample, qualified caregiver workforce to meet their needs. Continue reading »
I recently joined the Direct Care Alliance in Washington, DC, to advocate on behalf of direct care workers on Capitol Hill.
The congressional visits were to gain support for the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act, which was introduced in the House by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and in the Senate by Bob Casey (D-PA). These bills would change the classification of home care workers, removing the “companion” language from the Fair Labor Standards Act. It would ensure minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers; establish data collection and reporting requirements; and improve the recruitment and retention of direct care workers.
I met with Maine’s Congressional Delegation to inform my representatives about the need for the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act and ask for their support. I visited with Senator Collins, Congresswoman Pingree, and Congressman Michaud. Both representatives had signed on to the Sanchez/DCA letter from last year, asking the Department of Labor to address the FLSA issue. I thanked both for their support and for their health care reform votes.
It was so exciting to hear that both Reps. Pingree and Michaud became cosponsors of the bill.
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. Continue reading »
The Department of Labor has responded to the demands of advocates and workers by taking an initial step toward addressing the critical issue that prevents millions of direct care workers today from being afforded minimum wage and overtime protections. The Direct Care Alliance has been a strong voice in advocating for this change within DOL, among legislators and with President Obama. With workers’ support, DCA has called for an update to the antiquated and unjust rules that exclude home care workers from basic legal protections that every workforce sector enjoys. Read our official statement.
Following the Supreme Court ruling against Evelyn Coke in 2007, DCA acted swiftly by launching the “Respect for Home Care Campaign.” Since then, our members and allies have joined us in writing hundreds of letters to public officials and educating them about the needs of this invaluable workforce. Shortly after the launch of this campaign, DCA joined with Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-CA) to spearhead a letter, signed by over forty Members of Congress, to DOL Secretary Hilda Solis urging her take the necessary steps to address this issue. In addition, fifteen U.S. Senators also joined us in calling on DOL to take such action. We have been fortunate to count thousands of workers and dozens of organizations as allies in this effort, notably the Elder Workforce Alliance, PHI and the National Employment Law Project. Read more about our efforts here. Continue reading »
Although health care reform continues to spark debate and controversy across the nation, when President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it marked the beginning of the most significant improvements to long-term care in a generation. Several components of the legislation, including Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement and the Elder Justice Act, will not only improve the care America’s long-term care consumers receive but will also improve and better the working conditions and training for direct care workers.
NCCNHR, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, works to improve the quality of care and life for long-term care consumers and their families as well as working conditions and training for direct care workers. When health care reform passed Congress, nearly a dozen policy resolutions adopted by NCCNHR were addressed, including developing a standardized form for reporting nursing service hours and turnover and retention rates, requiring states to address retaliation against resident representatives who complain about poor care, and safeguarding nursing home residents when nursing home ownership is transferred. Health care reform will also address several ongoing problems faced by both consumers and workers. Continue reading »
Last week I traveled to Chicago for the 2010 Aging in America Conference. It was a great event and I wanted to share my experience with you along with some thoughts on how health care reform impacts direct care workers.
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 »
A group of Pennsylvanians is marching the 135 miles from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., over the next week. They are going to call on Congress to support health care reform, and they want you to join them.
It may be a little late to join the march from start to finish, since it starts on February 17, but the leaders of Melanie’s March are also looking for people to join them at events along the way in cities like Newark, Wilmington, and Baltimore; donate to support the cause; or march the last mile with them to Capitol Hill. Continue reading »
