Your passion. Your job. Your future!
At the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training, DCA communications director, Josh Sabato sat down for conversations with workers and direct care advocates from around the country, discussing the most pressing issues facing direct care workers and how anyone can join the movement in their home state. This week we invite you to meet Noel Mendez, from the DCA’s Pennsylvania chapter! Watch Video
Joan Leah
Join Florida CNA Joan Leah on her journey to this year’s Voices Institute Training
My colleagues and I just completed the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training Program! It was a very intense, yet rewarding learning experience and I am honored to have graduated with some of the finest people I have ever met.
The investment that has been made by the DCA in this 2011 class is significant and it is now our responsibility to take the next steps to ensure our collective voices are being heard across the country. I have been armed with the tools necessary to advocate for the desperately needed changes to our long term care system, and I am fully focused on stepping up to the challenge of helping to create a more stable direct care workforce throughout Florida.
Tracy Dudzinski
This letter was contributed by DCA Board Chair, Tracy Dudzinski.
Another VI class has come and gone and what a week it was! First off, I would like to thank all the workers who took the time to come to Wisconsin and develop their leadership skills. It was a wonderfully diverse group filled with the talented and inspiring people our movement needs to be successful in the coming weeks, months and years.
The 2011 Voices Institute was a full circle moment for me. I attended in 2008 as a worker and was privileged to come back this year and have the opportunity to expand my leadership skills as a facilitator. When I arrived on Saturday and walked in the front door of Taylor Hall the memories overtook me. It was like I was back in 2008 arriving as a student and I couldn’t wait to get started! It was an exciting week and I enjoyed watching the new class find their voice. Although some of our attendees were quiet at the beginning of our training, by the end of the week they blossomed like the magnolia tree in the garden, turning into the leaders who will expand this movement in all corners of the country.
Leonila Vega
Meeting with direct care workers whether they work in nursing homes, assisted living or providing care and supports to elders and people living with disabilities in their homes, is both humbling and profoundly inspiring. The stories I hear or moments I witness are examples of exemplary heroism and personal sacrifice. These are the kind of stories that refuel your faith in people today, that there are those who – without regard to money, comfort or even means – will take extraordinary steps to help others in need, whether they be families members or not. Forty-two personal care assistants received PCA of the Year Award and nine others received outstanding PCA awards.
Recently, I met such humble heroes at the 2011 In-Home Care Workers Have Heart Conference in Oklahoma. These “humble heroes” possess the qualities I want in a person caring for me, when I need home care as I know some day I will. I am certain you too want this very type of home care worker to be there for you. Read more and see for yourself what it means to receive good care, care beyond the plan of care, those essential documents put together by nurses, doctors and others to ensure elders and people living with disabilities have the care they need:
Jimmie Chandler, Gov. Baldacci and Ted Rippy
As one of the first direct care workers in the country to become a Credentialed Personal Care & Support Professional, I am thrilled to be part of the movement to improve the quality of care and strengthen the direct care workforce. I’ve been a direct care worker for more than 22 years, and it is discouraging to not get recognition for how much work goes into the job. So many of us come into this field without knowing how many skills and talents it takes to provide the services our consumers need; we are required to develop a deep knowledge of personal assistance work right away, and over the years that knowledge grows tremendously.
The DCA Personal Care and Support Credential recognizes me as a competent, experienced personal assistance worker. The credential is nationally recognized and I can take it with me wherever I go. It was a challenging but logical exam; as I took it, I was able to think back on all of the work I’ve done with my consumer over the years and apply that to the exam. It really did test for the competencies we need to do our jobs well; I felt like the exam was written for me. Continue reading »
David Moreau
I bring Donnie and Louise into WAI to get the dry mops. All the participants are sitting politely at a big table. They each have a piece of orange construction paper placed in front of them. They wait while two staff people are over at their desks cutting brown strips of paper. As we squeeze by, Noelle says to me in her little girl’s voice, “You lose your power?”
We had a heckuva storm last night. Wind and rain. Everyone’s been talking about losing their power. I was just about to answer her when one of the staff people across the room says firmly, “Noelle, TALK like an ADULT.”
As I pass by the staff person I ask, “How is that not like an adult?”
Continue reading »
It has been another exciting year for the New Mexico Direct Caregivers Coalition! On November 5, we hosted the second annual statewide summit, Caring Across New Mexico. We were thrilled to have so many employers and vendors in attendance along with direct care workers – it was an example of how important it is for everyone to work together. To kick off the morning, DCA’s Leonila Vega delivered a keynote address on national healthcare policy and what is being done to improve working conditions for direct care workers and the quality of care for elders and people living with disabilities. Watch a video of her presentation, below:
Next, we had an amazing panel of service providers discuss the importance of training, respect and recognition, and better working conditions for direct care workers. These employers demonstrated an extreme commitment to their staffs and the people they serve. Continue reading »
Iowa State University football coach, Paul Rhoads, pays tribute to direct care workers in a new public service announcement for the Iowa Caregivers Association.
Tina Tilley
My name is Tina Tilley and I am a direct support professional. I have experience in a wide variety of areas in direct care, from working with the elderly to those living with intellectual disabilities. I have worked in many settings including home health, institutional, AFC homes, and industrial. However, my passion is for the intellectually disabled in a home setting. It gives me great satisfaction to help those whom society has cast away live as much of a normal life as possible.
Not too long ago, there were some negative things said in our local newspaper concerning the AFC homes in our area. This led a few members of the community (and even the commander of the local State Police branch) to make some very irresponsible statements in regards to the staff of these AFC homes. In turn, I was prompted to write a letter to the editor in our defense. The editor turned it into a “guest column” and it was printed in its entirety.
An excerpt from my column: Continue reading »
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