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An innovative program in Pennsylvania is giving state officials a firsthand look at the daily lives of direct-care workers and broadcasting the message that these workers suffer from low wages and a lack of health insurance.
Five legislators across the state of Pennsylvania have participated in “Come Care with Me,” a program sponsored by the PHI Healthcare for Health Care Workers initiative. Through the program state officials are invited to witness direct-care workers in action as they care for elders or people with disabilities.
“The setting is intimate, usually in the consumer’s home,” says Tracy Lawless, Pennsylvania campaign coordinator with HCHCW. “This is a stark contrast from events where legislators are accustomed to speaking to large groups of people.”
The goal is to coordinate twenty Come Care With Me days around the state in order to gain increased media coverage and help build awareness that in a state where one in four residents lives with chronic health conditions, direct-care workers are not only the fastest-growing segment of the workforce but also one of the most underpaid and disproportionally uninsured. Home and community-based workers are most likely not to have insurance with one in four lacking health coverage.
In an interview with NPR about his experience, Representative Dan Frankel explained the problem further. “It’s ironic that health care benefits have never been part of the compensation package for direct-care workers who provide much-needed health services. Because of poor pay and a lack of health benefits, there is a high turnover rate and that can affect the consistency of care for the elderly and disabled.”
“The average wage for this workforce is about $10 an hour in this state, and health care is very unaffordable,” Lawless told CBS affiliate WKBN-TV in nearby Youngstown, Ohio, when the station covered Pennsylvania State Representative Mark Longietti’s participation. “We see the rates increasing every day.”
State Senator Jay Costa, Jr. also participated in one of the Come Care with Me days. “It’s enjoyable to get out into the public and interact with the people to understand their needs,” he told the Valley Mirror in Munhall.
Lawless says these events have allowed the HCHCW campaign to build relationships with legislators and empower direct-care workers to start a dialogue with policymakers. “When legislators are doing the actual caregiving work and the heavy lifting, it makes it easier for them to connect the dots,” she says.
The WKBN report:
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Shortly after Charles H. Roadman II assumed his role at the American Health Care Association, he became a CNA for a month. It opened his eyes to what a direct care giver does. I commend him for taking time to learn about the people that he was soon to serve. The only sad reality of all that is that nothing changed. Since that time till now, no one else seemed to care about the plight of the direct care giver. It is now 2009 and finally people are standing up and taking notice again. What do you think will happen this time?
If it weren’t fore direct care givers your parents and grandparents would not be cared for. You indicate that they get low pay, that is true but for them it is not about the money. They do the job because of who they are. Yet they are the neglected ones, no one cares about the ones who care. What did everyone think was going to happen? If you pretend their problems don’t exist, they might go away. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Yes, you chased away a lot of good people, who wanted to do the job but in reality could not stay, why? because no one cared about them, and their cup ran dry. When are people going to realize it is not always about the money, maybe someone just needs to care.