A 15-member delegation of government officials from Singapore visited PHI on November 18.

Delegation members included the head of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency and representatives from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth, and Sports; the Ministry of Health; the Agency for Integrated Care; and the Centre for Enabled Living.

The officials came to the U.S. to learn about direct-care workers’ job titles and roles (e.g. home health aides, personal and home care aides) and the various issues involved in meeting the increasing demand for this workforce (e.g. training of these workers, nursing delegation). Several members of the group were also interested in pursuing a cooperative home care model similar to Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA), a PHI affiliate in the South Bronx.

“The focus of this visit on the role, training, and support of the home care aide is a critical reminder of how important this issue is — and not only in the U.S,” said Rick Surpin, PHI board chair, Independence Care System founder and president, and Cooperative Home Care Associates founder and board chair, who met with the delegation.

“The active participation of all sectors in Singapore — government, education and health care organizations, including cooperatives — is a lesson that we should learn from our visitors,” Surpin said.

Singapore is currently developing a pool of geriatric-care workers to provide frontline care services to the elderly, especially in a home and community-based environment. The U.S. trip included site visits to national organizations with a reputation for workforce development in long-term care, such as PHI and the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, as well as long-term care providers in both New York and Washington, DC.

During the meeting at PHI, Rick Surpin and PHI New York Policy Analyst Meghan Shineman provided a history of home care and the development of programs for the elderly and people with severe disabilities in New York. They addressed:

• Training — skills and traits required for job eligibility, number of hours required, and type of skills and curriculum taught;
• Payment — worker wages and benefits, additional payment for difficult to serve patients, and career advancement measures; and
• Supervision — number of aides each nurse must supervise and the average number of cases and hours a day an aide works.