The New Mexico Direct Caregivers Coalition is seeking its first executive director. The organization, which was founded last year, is headed by a 10-member board of directors all of whom are direct care workers.
To apply, send a cover letter and resume to nmexchange@aol.com by March 3.
Job description (PDF)
Helen Hanson
Well, our report is complete, but it has not yet been presented to the Legislature.
As you know if you’ve been reading this blog, I am part of a team that was appointed by the state of Maine to recommend ways that the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee could streamline long-term care service delivery, address equalities in the services provided, and hopefully gain some cost savings, which can be passed on to workers in the form of livable wages and benefits such as paid time off and health care coverage. We finished our work in early January, and the report was supposed to be released later that month.
But I just learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has put it on the back burner instead. Continue reading »
Judy Clinco
It’s not easy to start up a direct care worker association, but with the right members and allies, you’d be surprised how much you can get done.
Our association, the Arizona Direct Care Worker Association (ADCWA), started last year. We are still in the process of building up our membership, but we already have some really powerful advocates for their profession. And we have a plan for the year, which we’re all working hard to implement.
After the DCA’s Vera Salter did a Power Me workshop for us last summer, we invited all the association members who attended the workshop to become part of a leadership circle. Six of them did, and they’ve gotten a lot done in the last six months. Continue reading »
Theresa Laws
“I have recommended this field to others and will continue to do so. I feel as though this can be a very rewarding field — as long as you measure it by the happiness of the people you serve,” says Theresa Laws.
Laws is the latest direct support professional to be profiled by the College of Direct Support in its DSP Chronicles. (PDF)
A Health Support Specialist/Direct Support Professional for the Rensselaer County ARC in Troy, New York, where she helps support six women in a group home, she is also an advocate for her professional. Law is a founding member of the Direct Support Professional Alliance of New York State, and she has testified before the New York State Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committee about te need for better DSP benefits and salaries.
“It was exhilarating and a little nerve-wracking to say the least to testify but I was honored to be asked to do it and it’s such an important set of issues for DSPs, for those we support and for their families,” she says.
This spring, the DCA’s Voices Institute will introduce a state-level training program for people who want to improve the lives of direct support workers and the people they support. If you’re a direct support worker or a long-term care recipient in Wisconsin who has a passion for that cause, we’d love to see you there!
Advocacy Voices Together is sponsored by the Direct Care Alliance, the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (WBPDD), and the Wisconsin Direct Caregiver Alliance (WIDCA). The program teams direct support workers with people who receive long-term care services. Together, they will learn how to build support for better direct care worker wages, benefits and working conditions. Continue reading »
Lindsay Short
I am honored to have been elected president of the Direct Support Professional Association of Minnesota as of next year.
Being a part of DSPAM over the last two years has been an eye-opening, life-changing experience. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people on the DSPAM board of directors, and I’ve watched DSPAM turn into an amazing organization, overcoming many milestones and accomplishing many of its goals.
The Direct Care Alliance has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to support a direct care worker amendment to the Senate’s version of the health care reform bill. The amendment calls for including the direct care workforce as a “high priority” focus area for the National Health Care Workforce Commission.
In a December 15 letter (PDF), the DCA and 35 other organizations asked Senator Reid to include the amendment in the final version of the Senate’s health care reform bill. Five more organizations joined the list of endorsers (PDF) after the letter was sent.
Sponsored by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Herb Kohl (D-WI), the amendment would add direct care workers to the list of health care workers to be studied by a National Healthcare Workforce Commission to be created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Choices Act. This no-cost amendment will ensure that the commission will review current and projected needs involving the direct care workforce, providing comprehensive recommendations to Congress and the Administration on how best to align direct care workforce resources with our national needs.
Leonila Vega
Thanks to the leadership of Senators Robert Casey [PA] and Herb Kohl [WI], a direct care worker amendment (PDF) has been filed to the Senate health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The amendment adds the direct care workforce as a “high priority” focus area of the National Health Care Workforce Commission. The commission would examine a number of key health care workforce issues, as part of the bill’s effort to expand access to millions of uninsured Americans, but the current list of health care professions to be studied does not include direct care workers.
Tracy Dudzinsky, a graduate of the DCA’s Voices Institute National Leadership Program and president of the Wisconsin Direct Caregiver Alliance, led the charge in getting this amendment introduced when she visited Senator Feingold’s office in September.
Tracy was helped early on by fellow direct care worker and Voices Institute NLP graduate Brenda Nachtway, who asked Senator Casey to support the direct care worker amendment. Instead, Senator Casey went above and beyond Brenda’s request and offered to sponsor the amendment!
(L to R) Connie, Alex and me on our panel
The New Mexico Direct Caregivers Coalition’s 2009 summit was our first conference – we just started our coalition this year – so we were a little nervous going into it. But by the end of the day on November 6, we all felt great.
About 125 people from all across the state got a lot out of the summit. We packed the day with educational sessions, running three at a time in four time slots, and we had some great speakers.
Our educational sessions ranged from self-advocacy to job-related skills to what caregivers need to know about technology. Topics included Affordable Health Insurance for Direct Caregivers, Dementia vs. Hearing Loss – How to Recognize when Hearing Loss is Causing the Misunderstanding, Caring for Yourself First, Family Caregivers as Advocates, and Advocating your Cause: Caregiver Advocacy 101.
I was on one of the panels, along with my fellow 2009 Voices Institute National Leadership Program graduates Connie Kreider and Alex Brandt. I talked about why we direct care workers need respect and recognition. Connie told people about the DCA, and Alex talked about our generally low wages and why they need to improve. The people who came to hear us asked a lot of good questions. Continue reading »
Roy with Di Findley (L) and Diane Frerichs at the conference
The DCA was front and center at “Quality Care, No Matter Where,” the 34th annual conference of NCCNHR – The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.
In my last week as the DCA’s national advocacy director last month, I presented a workshop titled Improving the Direct Care Workforce: A Job for Consumers and Workers with Iowa Caregivers Association leaders Di Findley and Diane Frerichs.
I talked about the DCA’s advocacy agenda, initiatives with consumers and direct care workers, and our priority focus of empowering workers as activist leaders. I also talked about the need to address teh egregious conditions that direct care workers often endure when providing long-term care services. I told attendees that the DCA’s main advocacy priorities are to secure living wages, health benefits, and safer working conditions. Continue reading »
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