Archive for ‘States’

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 »

Credentialing Caregivers: A Path to Personal Mastery

Posted by on August 29th, 2011 at 6:05 pm | 1 Comment »

Phil Garner

Last week, personal care worker Helen Hanson interviewed Phil Garner via email about his experience with the DCA’s Personal Care & Support Credential examination. Garner is executive director of Buffalo River Services, an agency that provides services to people with disabilities and their families in Waynesboro, Tennessee. Buffalo River recently administered the credential exam to a select group of direct support professionals.

Why is it so important to have quality caregivers?

As we have worked over the past few years in Tennessee’s Person Centered Organization project, we found one very important barrier to providing great services: There is a gap between what we are teaching our direct support professionals and our expectation that they should perform their duties in the most effective person-centered way. We realized we were far from where we needed to be just to achieve our current goals, let alone the “best practices” we aim for, which include person-centered thinking. Continue reading »

Believe, Achieve, Succeed

Posted by on August 22nd, 2011 at 1:13 pm | 4 Comments »

Tracy Dudzinski

Being elected the chair of the board of directors for the Direct Care Alliance at our annual meeting this year was a great honor and an important step in a leadership journey I’ve been on for a few years. It’s also been an honor to work with my talented fellow board members, including several new Voices Institutes graduates who began serving their terms this year.

As many of you already know, I am the chair of the board of directors for a worker-owned home care cooperative I work for in Wisconsin. A few years ago, I became chair of the Wisconsin Direct Caregiver Alliance, and I am on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Long Term Care Workforce Alliance.

But being the chair of a powerful national organization like the DCA brings new opportunities and responsibilities. My fellow direct care worker board members and I are responsible for representing the voice of the workers. We make up the majority of the board members, and that is an excellent start, but it’s our responsibility to make sure that our voices are heard loud and clear–not just within the DCA but in wider discussions about the work we do. Over the next year, I plan to help the DCA become better recognized as the voice of direct care workers.
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!

Pennsylvania Home Care Employer Believes Quality Care Starts with Quality Jobs

Posted by on August 1st, 2011 at 4:07 pm | 2 Comments »

Janis Mandich Durick founded From The Heart Home Companion Service with the expressed desire to fill a much needed void in quality Home Care in Pennsylvania.  Several years ago, Janis chose to put her business career on hold to care for her elderly parents.  Looking back, Janis now credits caring for her Mom and Dad with jump starting her business to provide quality “at home” care service to seniors and people living with disabilities.

Janis attributes an immense devotion to her business to a great sense of knowing that many people are in desperate need of home care. “My parent’s desire was to remain at home.  I could not justify placing them in a nursing facility.  With some assistance and prayer, I managed to fulfill that desire.”  In today’s fast-paced world, life can be very stressful.  People have to work; unfortunately many times some are left with no other recourse but to leave their loved ones in the care of a facility.

Continue reading »

Care, Commitment and Coffee with Melva Proctor of Virginia!

Posted by on August 1st, 2011 at 4:04 pm | No Comments »

At the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training, DCA communications director, Josh Sabato sat down to speak with direct care worker, Melva Proctor to discuss the most pressing issues facing direct care workers and how other activists can get involved in direct care advocacy in Virginia.


Elders, Community Organizations & Disability Leaders in Wisconsin Fight Cap on Home Care Funding

Posted by on July 25th, 2011 at 1:29 pm | No Comments »

The following letter was sent to U.S. Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius by the Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations.

The Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations is writing to join various other organizations and elected officials in asking you to deny Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis Smith’s anticipated request to eliminate the entitlement feature of Wisconsin’s Family Care Waiver. As you know, the current agreement in effect between CMS and Wisconsin includes the following language:

“Every eligible person will have entitlement to Family Care within 36 months of implementation of the Family Care Waiver in his or her county. Every person with a nursing home level of care will have the choice of receiving the Family Care (or in some parts of the state Partnership) benefit by enrolling in a managed care organization or to choose Medicaid fee-for-service benefits including participation in IRIS, Wisconsin’s self-directed supports waiver, if desired.” Read full letter to Secretary Sebelius.

Care, Commitment and Coffee with Muhanna S. Kakish of Minnesota

Posted by on July 12th, 2011 at 7:04 pm | No Comments »

At the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training, DCA communications director, Josh Sabato sat down to speak with direct care worker, Muhanna S. Kakish to discuss the most pressing issues facing direct care workers and how other activists can get involved in direct care advocacy in Minnesota.  DCA Speaks with Muhanna S. Kakish at 2011 Voices Institute Training.

Care, Commitment and Coffee with Elizabeth Cross of Arizona!

Posted by on July 5th, 2011 at 2:30 pm | No Comments »

At the 2011 Voices Institute Leadership Training, DCA communications director, Josh Sabato sat down to speak with direct care worker, Elizabeth Cross to discuss the most pressing issues facing direct care workers and how other activists can get involved in direct care advocacy in Arizona.  DCA Speaks with Elizabeth Cross at 2011 Voices Institute Training.

Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act Introduced in the House and Senate!

Posted by on June 27th, 2011 at 5:30 pm | No Comments »

Last Friday, the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act was introduced in the U.S. House (HR 2341) and Senate (S. 1273) by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA).  The bill was submitted with 22 original co-sponsors in the House and in the Senate, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, Tom Harkin also signed on as an original co-sponsor.

Rep. Sanchez released a statement on the importance and impact of the legislation stating “It is impossible to overstate the importance of direct care workers…They provide essential care and daily living services to more than 13 million elderly and disabled Americans.  They care for our parents and grandparents, but we don’t guarantee home care workers the minimum wage.  It is my hope that…” Read full release from Rep. Sanchez


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