Archive for ‘New York’

Improving Care Quality by Developing Direct Care Worker Leaders

Posted by on November 29th, 2011 at 11:12 am | 2 Comments »

Beverly Faulkner

Developing direct care workers’ leadership skills can be an effective way of improving job and care quality in long-term care, according to early feedback from a collaboration between the Direct Care Alliance and four New York City-area nursing homes. The program is part of a pilot being conducted by DCA, the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services in New York City, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The project partners developed a new job description for certified nursing assistants (CNAs), creating an intermediary Senior Resident Care Associate position between the traditional CNA position and licensed nurses. The main goal is to develop direct care workers’ leadership skills so they can better advocate for improved working conditions, career advancement, and respect. The new position essentially creates a CNA career track, allowing seasoned nursing assistants to take on more responsibility and earn more pay without having to abandon the profession.

According to sociologist Deborah Little, PhD, the program’s evaluator, 30 CNA leaders—“the cream of the cream of the crop”—will be trained over the next three years. The first ten came from two of Beth Abe’s four homes. Each of the remaining two homes will contribute ten more. Training began for the first group this fall and begins for the last group next spring.

Continue reading »

A Way for New Yorkers to Celebrate Labor Day

Posted by on September 5th, 2011 at 9:55 am | No Comments »

Leonila Vega

Labor Day is a time to celebrate American workers, and I would like to thank the members of Congress that have demonstrated their commitment to working class Americans by co-sponsoring the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act of 2011.

This legislation would extend federal minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers and create other initiatives to improve direct care jobs. Turnover for direct care workers in New York is as high as 47%. This is unacceptable and unsustainable for our long-term care system. Continue reading »

Care, Committment and Coffee Series Concludes with Norman Thomas of New York

Posted by on August 8th, 2011 at 3:02 pm | No Comments »

At the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training, DCA communications director, Josh Sabato sat down to speak with direct care worker, Norman Thomas to discuss the most pressing issues facing direct care workers.  Mr. Thomas is a direct care worker at Beth Abraham Family Services in Bronx, New York.

The DCA recently teamed up with Beth Abraham and other home care employers in New York to provide a comprehensive training for direct care workers on job safety, emergency preparedness and other skills training to better equip workers with additional tools to care for elders and persons living with disabilities.  For more information about how other employers and workers can partner with us to help create a stronger more stable direct care workforce contact the DCA today!

State Budget Deficits are Causing a Care Crisis

Posted by on January 24th, 2011 at 1:05 pm | No Comments »

David Ward

In the wake of a slow economic recovery, state budget deficits are growing as unemployment remains high and state tax revenues continue to shrink.  States that have fallen victim to budget shortfalls are being forced consider cuts to human service programs at a time when people need them most.

The deficit crisis is not discriminating between states that are known for its spending and states that are noted for their fiscal restraint.  California, Illinois and New York  are all facing significant deficits.  But so is Texas, which is facing a $25 billion budget deficit.  Given its already lean budget, the Texas legislature is considering cutting Medicaid altogether.  This is at a time when nearly one in ten Americans are unemployed and more families are relying on safety net programs such as Medicaid.

California, on the other hand, has been battling budget problems for some time and has made multiple attempts to reduce reimbursements to state health care providers, including direct care workers.  In 2008, this effort was rebuked by Federal courts and now the Supreme Court is set to hear the case.   Many states, health and long-term care consumers and workers will be impacted by this ruling.

States are already taking action and health care and social services are on the chopping block. Continue reading »

New York’s Home Care Education Fund Achieves Nonprofit Status

Posted by on October 12th, 2010 at 1:55 pm | No Comments »

This is a guest post from Faith Wiggins, Director of the 1199SEIU Homecare Education Fund.

1199SEIU home care workers provide essential services to thousands of elderly, infirm and disabled New Yorkers each and every day. Their work allows home care clients to live independently in the comfort and safety of their own homes. The 1199SEIU Bill Michelson Home Care Education Fund helps workers obtain the education they need to improve their careers and to enhance the quality of services they provide. The Fund gives home care workers access to a wide range of programs and services so they can improve English language skills, earn GEDs, prepare for college entrance exams, attend college, and take professional development courses. Continue reading »

New York Senate Passes Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

Posted by on June 7th, 2010 at 1:32 pm | No Comments »

Leonila Vega

On June 1, the New York State Senate voted 33-28 to pass the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. This is a great victory for domestic workers who have been excluded from many basic labor protections. The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights shows a clear indication that some states are ready to implement change for individuals in industries – like direct care – who are not receiving basic labor protections. This success is closely tied to direct care workers; domestic workers and direct care workers have both traditionally worked in environments with low pay, long hours, and no heath care or sick leave.

Domestic Workers United was instrumental in shaping this Bill of Rights. Provisions include improvements to domestic workers’ employment conditions and requirements for paid sick leave, paid vacation time and days of rest. It also sets guidelines for proper employment termination.

The Direct Care Alliance would like to offer its congratulations and support to Domestic Workers United. The passage of this bill is a significant achievement and a great way to inspire progress for other unprotected workers. We look forward to working with our allies to secure protections for all direct care workers. Continue reading »

College of Direct Support Profiles another Outstanding DSP Leader

Posted by on January 15th, 2010 at 7:30 pm | 2 Comments »

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.

Book Award Unearths Retired CNA’s Past as Civil Rights Hero

Posted by on December 21st, 2009 at 10:12 pm | 1 Comment »

Claudette Colvin last month (L) and in 1953

A National Book Award awarded last month for a young adult book has given its subject, a retired nursing assistant, a taste of long-overdue fame for a brave act in her youth.
Claudette Colvin, a civil rights pioneer who refused to give up her seat to a white woman in Montgomery months before Rosa Parks walked into history books by doing the same, recently retired after 35 years as a nursing assistant in a New York City nursing home.

The civil rights leaders planning to fight segregation laws in court decided not to use Colvin’s arrest as their test case, the author of the book told the New York Times. “They worried they couldn’t win with her. Words like ‘mouthy,’ ‘emotional’ and ‘feisty’ were used to describe her.” 

In the Times article, Colvin said even her own mother told her it was best to cede the spotlight to Parks. “My mother told me to be quiet about what I did,” she recalled. “She told me: ‘Let Rosa be the one. White people aren’t going to bother Rosa — her skin is lighter than yours and they like her.’ ”

Elise Nakhnikian
Communications Director
Direct Care Alliance

Bill Would Create Home Health Care Jobs for Public Housing Residents

Posted by on December 21st, 2009 at 5:43 pm | No Comments »
Congresswoman Velazquez

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) has asked the the U.S. House of Representatives to provide home health care training for public housing residents in New York City, so they can assist their fellow residents. The congresswoman introduced her Together We Care Act of 2009 into the House on December 7.

“This effort meets the needs of our community by helping to lift public housing residents out of poverty and providing care for those who need it most. We need to find creative, new ways to help New Yorkers get back to work, and this bill does just that,” said Congresswoman Velázquez.

The congresswoman says the bill would create 6,000 jobs in New York City alone, while increasing assistance for thousands of senior and disabled tenants.

Real Wages Keep Falling for Personal and Home Care Aides

Posted by on September 9th, 2009 at 11:17 am | 1 Comment »

state chartbook coverAs every direct care worker advocate knows, personal and home care aides earn far too little for the important work they do. And now an updated version of PHI’s State Chart Book on Wages for Personal and Home Care Aides (PDF) gives advocates a valuable tool, proving that real wages are actually getting worse.

The chart book analyzes data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, adjusting last year’s wages for inflation to see how their earning power compares to average wages in 1999.

Nationwide, these inflation-adjusted rates, which the chartbook calls “real wages,” have decreased by 3 percent over the past nine years, dropping from $7.50 an hour to just $7.31. Real wages increased in more than half the states during that period, but not enough to make up for their decline in the other 21.

Median wages in 2008 ranged from $7.05 an hour in Texas to $12.55 in Alaska in 2008, or real wages of $5.61 to $9.90. “Wages for personal and home care aides are so low,” says PHI Director of Policy Research Dorie Seavey, “that about 20 percent of these workers received a raise on July 24 when the minimum wage increased to $7.25/hour.”

The chartbook also compares wages to federal poverty level wages for a one-person household.

Elise Nakhnikian
Communications Director
Direct Care Alliance

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