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.
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.
(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 »
If you know an outstanding home care worker in Pennsylvania, you may want to nominate him or her for the state’s second annual Direct Care Worker of the Year Award.
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging is currently accepting nominations for the award. Contact Rocco Claroni at 717-772-2932 or rclaroni@state.pa.us for more information.
David Ward
The National Employment Law Project’s Reclaiming our Wages conference was an energizing meeting of people from universities, non-profit organizations, unions, and government agencies. What we all had in common was a commitment to strengthening the rights of workers who are often victims of injustices such as poor working conditions and wage theft.
The November 6 and 7 conference was a great opportunity to learn more about the creative approaches that some of our allies are taking to address the needs of their constituents and to build partnerships in confronting some of the common challenges that we face. One of the conference highlights was Peggie Smith’s presentation on policy and organizing strategies to address the needs of home care workers. It was very gratifying to hear her recognize the DCA and its state affiliates for our work to improve direct care jobs!
Peggie is the author of a DCA policy brief on extending wage and overtime protections to home care workers. (PDF)
David Ward
Director of Policy and Planning
Direct Care Alliance
Despite the overall success of Massachusetts’ health care reform, too many of the state’s direct care workers still cannot afford employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a new study from PHI and the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.
According to Coverage for Caregivers: Lessons from Massachusetts Health Reform, (PDF) only one in every five direct care workers in the state have enrolled in an employer’s health care plan. Statewide, nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of working-age adults are covered through their employers.
Direct care workers often opt out of their employers’ plans because the premiums and copays are too costly. Instead, many work part-time in order to qualify for the state’s insurance plan, which costs less than most employer plans.“This disincentive to work undermines state efforts to build a quality, stable direct-care workforce,” said PHI Massachusetts Policy Director Amy Robins. 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 »
Alice Li during her stay in a nursing home
I’m a third-year medical student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Last summer, I spent two weeks in a nursing home in Maine as part of the Learning by Living Project, where medical students are admitted to nursing homes as residents to gain insight into how it feels to be an elder in a nursing home. The observations that follow are taken from the journal I kept while I was there.
It is really amazing how much the CNAs know about the people they take care of. They are what make the medical system tick. They bring up names and stories and what the residents did that endeared them to the CNAs. They know what each resident’s preferences are. Those they really love become family, and when the resident dies, they shed tears. That is the kind of relationship that I hope I will have one day with my patients.
Yes, sometimes they are spit upon, peed upon, hated upon, but other times they are loved, appreciated, and always needed. They all have favorites. Some even have favorite floors – for many, the dementia floor, it seems. Continue reading »
Don Krutsinger
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 »
Daniel Escojido
DSP Chronicles Profiles Daniel Escojido
An editorial in Sunday’s Boston Globe pays tribute to Evelyn Coke and warns that “many thousands of Evelyn Cokes” will soon be added to the workforce — and they must be paid “a decent wage.” Continue reading »
Visit us on:
