PHInational.org

Download Release as PDF

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

America Faces Caregiving Crisis: One Million New Direct-Care Workers Needed by 2016

National Health Care Worker Advocacy Group PHI Reports on Rapid Growth in Demand for Direct-Care Workers

Bronx, NY, May 27, 2008— By the year 2016, America will need 1 million additional direct-care workers to care for its rapidly growing elderly population. Already facing difficulty recruiting workers for these low-wage occupations, elders and people with disabilities fear that without support from policymakers to improve jobs, there will not be enough workers to assist them.

Continue Reading

Download Release as PDF.

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

National Healthcare Workers’ Campaign Reports on America’s Most Dangerous Job: Caring for the Greatest Generation

Report Shows High Rates of Injury, Inadequate Health Coverage May Result in Caregiver Shortage

Bronx, NY, May 20, 2008— Direct-care workers — those who are now caring for America’s greatest generation in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day centers, and private homes — have one of America’s most dangerous jobs. Rates of job-related injury and illness among these workers exceed those of construction workers, truck drivers, firefighters, and police officers. Yet one in three of these workers has no health insurance, says a recent report from the PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign. This contributes to an ever-growing shortage of caregivers for America’s aging population.

Continue Reading

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Institute of Medicine Report Recommends Improving Direct-Care Jobs

PHI Welcomes News, Urges Policymakers to Take Action

BRONX, NY, April 14, 2008— By 2016, America will need 1 million additional direct-care workers—home health aides, nursing aides, and personal care workers—to care for aging baby boomers and growing numbers of people with disabilities. The total direct-care workforce will grow to 4 million workers, more than the total number of teachers needed to educate America’s youth. This tremendous demand for direct-care services—and the challenges employers face in attracting workers to these jobs—led the Institute of Medicine (IoM) to focus specific attention on the needs of this workforce in its latest report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce.

Continue Reading

Download Release as PDF

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Vermont Legislative Study Tackles Direct Care Workforce

Study Reveals that Wages, Health Coverage, Training are Keys to Retention

Montpelier, VT, March 25, 2008 –An impending health care crisis has not gone unnoticed in the Green Mountain State. The number of Vermonters age 65 and older is expected to double between 2005 and 2030 while the direct-care workforce continues to decline. A new study funded by the Department of Disabilities, Aging & Independent Living, The Community of Vermont Elders, and PHI has made nine recommendations to help avert this crisis. The Legislative Study of the Direct Care Workforce in Vermont reveals that wages, benefits and training are critical to retaining workers in this field. Continue Reading

Download Release as PDF

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Innovative Program “OPENS” Doors for MI Health Care Workers, Employers

OPEN Program Provides Roadmap for Health Care Workers to Keep Jobs and Advance Their Careers

Lansing, MI, February 4, 2008 -Michigan’s innovative Kent County Health Field Collaborative (HFC), through its pilot Opportunity Partnership & Empowerment Network (OPEN) program, offers exciting potential to address the “care gap” – Michigan’s rapidly growing number of elders and people with disabilities and ever-shrinking pool of caregivers. The HFC consists of a group of employers working together – along with partners from government, educational institutions, and other not-for-profits – to solve recruitment and retention challenges in health care. Together they identified the challenges employers face now and in the future with growing the workforce. According to a new case study by PHI, a nonprofit organization that supports quality long-term care by improving the quality of direct-care jobs, the OPEN program has achieved impressive results with employee retention. The OPEN program, which the HFC based on a retention model developed by The Source (a coalition of Grand Rapids area manufacturers dedicated to collaborative approaches to employee retention and advancement), saw among its key results significant drops in the overall turnover rates of direct-care workers – those who provide services and supports to elders and people living with disabilities. Continue Reading