About 50 or 60 long-term care stakeholders were on-hand at a September 11 reception held by the Direct Care Alliance to inaugurate its new midtown Manhattan headquarters.

Stacey Easterling of The Atlantic Philanthropies praised the DCA for giving voice to “a group that is essentially voiceless when it comes to impacting the direction of the long term care field. Not only am I certain that DCWs have a lot to say, they have important things to say,” she added. The Atlantic Philanthropies is one of the DCA’s main funders.

Direct-care worker Bridget Siljander (pictured), a graduate of the DCA’s Voices Institute, focused her remarks on the need for better wages, benefits, and support. “It is very difficult to support oneself and it is more difficult to also support a family on the wages we earn and with the lack of benefits. We often work in isolation and do not have much of a sense of having a professional community. Respect for the profession and the workers is inadequate… Without drastic changes to the workforce, the availability and quality of direct care will deteriorate further,” she said.

The Hartford Foundation’s Chris Langston described the event as “a coming-out party for the Direct Care Alliance, which is finding its footing. It is mobilizing the three groups of stakeholders, getting direct-care workers to raise their voices, and becoming the organization that it is meant to be.”

Aaron Toleos, Online Communications Director
atoleos@phinational.org