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 »
Last week, The Community Partnership submitted comments Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) proposed rule related to civil money penalties for nursing homes under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. We are excited to be able to participate and share our views with the federal agencies as the new health reform law begins to take shape. Proposed regulations which are put out for comment will shape policies for years to come. Our Partnership has been very active in Virginia working to see that our Civil Monetary Penalty funds are used for quality improvement initiatives. Right now, the very exciting Virginia Gold CNA Retention Project which the Partnership is doing with one local nursing home is funded through CMP money. Without the voices of consumer and direct care worker advocates speaking out, that CMP money might have been diverted to less effective use. In our local Virginia gold project, DCA Board Member Angel Saylor and other direct care workers on staff at that facility are making great progress on the issues of CNA empowerment, creation of a more supportive work environment, enhanced opportunities for advancement, leadership, skills training, and peer mentorship. It is a terrific win-win situation when direct care workers receive more rewards, recognition and opportunities (bringing down the CNA turnover rate) and residents enjoy consistent and improved quality of care. 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.
The Americans with Disabilities Act celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 26, 2010, and there is much to celebrate. In the 20 years since the ADA was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, we have witnessed a transformation in how people living with disabilities have been welcomed into society.
We have seen new and old buildings designed, constructed and renovated to accommodate individuals living with physical disabilities, more availability of communication access with sign language interpreters and CART services, and increased access to technology such as computers, cell phones and the internet, to name but a few.
Certainly there is more work to do. Employment for people living with disabilities remains only a dream for most. Likewise, the institutionalization of far too many people living with disabilities continues unnecessarily. Perhaps the biggest achievement of the ADA was the Supreme Court’s Olmstead Decision, in which the Court upheld the rights of people living with disabilities to live in the community rather than an institutional setting if the necessary support services could be delivered as effectively in the community. What could be more basic a right than to be able to decide where you will live and with whom?Continue reading »
Dr. Vera Salter, Direct Care Alliance; Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
Yesterday, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) hosted a Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing in Wilkes-Barre, where he announced his intention to introduce the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act (House version introduced last week by Rep. Linda Sanchez).
The hearing – Taking care of Mom and Dad: Why We Need a Quality Workforce to Serve Our Older Americans – addressed the growing need for quality medical personnel to take care of a growing aging population. I was invited to deliver testimony, along with Continue reading »
July 28, 2010, was a remarkable day for direct care workers across the country as Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) announced the introduction of the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act.
Rep. Sanchez has been a champion for direct care workers. Last year, she led an effort along with DCA to call on the Department of Labor to fix the companionship exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act. While we do applaud the Department of Labor for adding this issue to the 2010 regulatory agenda, a legislative change would solidify protections for home care workers in the law, not leaving this issue to the “whims of any one administration.” As someone who has worked for less-than-minimum wage in my lifetime, I can say that this change is long overdue. Too many direct care workers struggle to support themselves and their families, working long hours doing backbreaking labor not because they have to, but because they love helping others. They are professionals and should have the same protections as all other workers in this country. Continue reading »
This is a guest post from Vicki Shabo, Director of Work & Family Programs for the National Partnership for Women & Families.
Every day in the United States, more workers than many of us imagine face an impossible choice: go to work sick, or forgo a paycheck and risk job loss or workplace discipline. More than 40 million private sector workers in this country do not have access to even a single paid sick day. And when it comes to personal care workers—those who tend to the elderly and care for small children—more than half (52%) lack paid sick days.
The need for paid sick days for direct care workers could not be more critical. With pay rates that average about $10 per hour, every cent earned is crucial to direct care workers’ financial stability and the economic security of their families. On the other hand, when direct care workers go to work sick, they risk the fragile health of those they care for—people who are ill, elderly, or medically needy and who are entrusted to their care. Continue reading »
This post was written by Shawn Fremstad, Director of the Inclusive and Sustainable Economy Initiative at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
Earlier this year, the Obama administration unveiled plans to develop a “supplemental” poverty measure (SPM) based on recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences in 1995. The SPM makes important technical improvements on the current outdated poverty measure (although, unfortunately, the current measure would remain the “official” one). However, it doesn’t take the much more important step of providing an accurate measure of what it takes to “make ends meet” and be economically secure in today’s economy.
The official poverty line for a family of four is currently a mere $22,000. We don’t know yet for sure where the supplemental poverty line will fall, but previous Census estimates suggest that it will only be a few thousand dollars higher, at best, than the current poverty line. By comparison, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that a four-person family needs just under $50,000 a year, on average nationwide, to make ends meet at a “modest, but safe” level. Similarly, the Commerce Department recently estimated that a four-person family needed at least $51,000 a year to achieve a minimum “middle-class family budget.”
The pay and benefits of direct care work should be judged primarily by whether it is possible for direct care workers, at a minimum, to live, not just above an extremely low “poverty” line, but at a middle-class level that allows them to be economically secure. Continue reading »
Helen Hanson in front of the U.S. Capitol buidling
On May 28, I was with the Direct Care Alliance in Washington, DC, again bringing direct care worker issues to the attention of decision-makers. This time, at the U.S. Department of Labor.
We’re all so excited about the FLSA extension issue being added to the regulatory agenda, and we met with two representatives from the Wage and Hour Division to explain why minimum wage and overtime protections are essential to creating a strong direct care workforce. The representatives were very open and honest, which I greatly appreciated. They met with us to learn more about what direct care workers do on a day-to-day basis and to understand more about our work. At one point they used the word “companion” to identify home care workers and I cringed. But I was easily able to explain to them the differences between companion and home care worker, which they appreciated.
I explained that I am more than a companion and I took them on a journey through my typical work day with my consumer – a quadriplegic woman who is totally dependent on direct care workers each day. 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 »
