The Washington state legislature is finally starting to support the work we home care workers and our allies have been doing to establish a professional career path for direct care workers in long-term care. On Saturday, a bill to allow home care workers to more easily become nursing assistants was passed out of committee. It will soon be voted on by the state Senate.
The House bill, HB 2766, and the Senate’s, SB 6582, are nearly identical. A third bill, SB 6662, is slightly different and more inclusive of other types of workers. None of the three have funding attached, so they will only be effective if my union, SEIU 775, can negotiate money for our joint Training Trust.
The cynical part of me says it’s about time the legislature recognized the work we home care aides have been doing to improve the quality of care we provide, but the optimistic part is happy for this good news. Continue reading »
In his State of the Union Address last Tuesday, President Obama reiterated that his Administration’s #1 priority is to create more jobs and get our economy back on track. He also challenged Congress: “Don’t walk away from health care reform.”
The DCA applauds the President’s call to action. With more than a quarter of all direct care workers lacking health insurance, making quality health care affordable for all Americans remains our top priority. We’re also working to get direct care on the job creation agenda, so some of that funding will go to improve the quality of direct care jobs, ensuring that we can satisfy consumer demand for a stable, well-qualified workforce.
Direct care jobs are expected to be among the fastest growing occupations in the USA over the next decade. That means our nation is facing a crucial choice. We can continue to tolerate low-paying, poor-quality jobs that swell the ranks of the working poor and lead to poor care. Or we can invest in the direct care workforce. Continue reading »
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!
Helen Hanson (L) at her graduation with instructor Ida Hall
I gave this speech on December 21 to the other students in my CNA certification class. After years as a home care worker, I got my CNA certification so I’d be eligible for a wider range of direct care jobs. Our instructor asked the group to pick someone to make a speech when we graduated. The class nominated me, and I figured it would help with my public speaking skills. But speaking in front of a group is getting better for me, I must say. I wasn’t at all nervous – it actually felt good!
I want to thank the Veteran’s Administration-Togus and Augusta Adult Education for making this CNA course available. It was a grueling course of 200 hours – 50 hours more than the current state requirement. I’m grateful for the opportunity and challenge this course offered.
I want to thank Lisa Theriault and Ida Hall, our instructors, for their patience, knowledge, and expertise in the field of nursing that they have imparted upon us. Personally, I enjoyed Ida’s “old school” teaching methods and her high expectations of us. One of my high school teachers was the same way, and she’s the one that inspired me to push myself beyond my comfort zones and to do the best that I can with the knowledge I have. She’s the teacher I remember from my high school years – twenty-five-some-odd years ago.
With our graduation this evening, we now have the skills and knowledge to work as CNAs. Through this work, we all have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those in our care. Continue reading »
I am delighted to announce that Vera Salter will join us part-time on January 1 as our new Professional Development Director. She will be responsible for developing a national credentialing program for personal care workers.
Vera has been a tireless supporter of direct care workers — and of the DCA — for years. She joined our board of directors in 2007, serving as vice chair before being elected chair last April. In her board role, she provided technical assistance and volunteer work to develop our credentialing project and helped design the curriculum for our Voices Institute National Leadership Program.
In her new position, Vera will lead the development of the Direct Care Alliance credentialing program. The project will create a competency-based credentialing system for personal assistance workers who aid elders and people with disabilities with the activities of daily living in their own homes. Continue reading »
I work as a direct support professional with developmentally disabled adults in residential settings. One thing I have in common with just about all my coworkers is that we need to work more than 40 hours a week to make ends meet – and even so, too many of us can’t afford our employers’ health care coverage.
With the recent cutbacks by our state (Minnesota), most of our residential programs have cut out overtime and cut down the number of full-time positions, reducing the number of positions that receive health insurance and paid time off. That means nearly all of us have to work two to three jobs to make ends meet. Chances are, we don’t get enough hours from any one of them to qualify for health insurance. That’s a difficult, demoralizing way to live, especially for those of us who are dedicated to direct support work and have invested years of our lives in our careers. Continue reading »
A is for the admiration I received
W is for the wonderful people
E is for everything I appreciate about the people of the DCA
S is for that special someone who gave confidence that I could do it
O is for the one thing that made a big difference in my life
M is for the many new friendships I made
E is for the experience that will make me a whole lot better person
Before heading to DC with the DCA this spring, CNA Renee Tillman, the founder and president of the Texas Association of Nurse Assistants, asked her colleagues what they wanted her to tell legislators about direct care work. Here’s what they said.
DCA board chair Vera Salter teaching members of the 2009 class
“Let the root thrive” was the birthing motto of the Voices Institute inaugural class, inspired by the lakeside location of the DeKoven Center in Wisconsin, where the first graduates launched DCA’s signature National Leadership Program (NLP) to turbo-charge direct care worker leadership and activism.
When I wrote, after the first class graduated, that the inaugural program was one “historic and successful step forward for the movement to empower direct care workers and to fix our broken long-term care system,” I was dreaming of the possibilities. From September 27 through October 3 of this year, direct care workers once again proved their capacity to make the seemingly impossible happen, and to claim the respect they deserve as professionals. The roots are thriving at the state and national level, and the new class of graduates have a place from where to build national policy success. Continue reading »
Connie Kreider with fellow graduate Tony Wells at the 2009 VI NLP
B– breathing and inhaling the amazing week
E– entering and walking down a new path of leadership
L–learning and leaving footprints for others to follow
I–internal peace and tranquility
E–experiencing renewed strength and feeling blessed by walking on hallowed ground
F–friends for a lifetime, feelings of one unbreakable strength and renewed passion
