PHI is preparing America to care for its aging population.
A new PHI publication, “Occupational Projections for Direct-Care Workers 2006-2016,” provides vital analysis of recent projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor. Estimated to reach 4 million workers by 2016, the direct-care workforce “can no longer be an afterthought in policy discussions,” says author Dorie Seavey. “And long-term providers have little choice but to improve the quality of direct-care jobs to make them competitively attractive in local labor markets.”
PHI’s Expert Interview Series
Amy Hewitt: Direct Support Work is a Highly Skilled Job
“If I had only one sentence, this would be it: Direct support work is a highly skilled job,” says Amy Hewitt.
“It’s not viewed that way by society - or, frankly, by many employers - but not everybody can do this job. You have to be smart; you have to be able to problem solve; you […]
Joanne Rader: “It’s the Direct-Care Worker, Stupid”
“My passion for working with people with dementia, for making life better for them, has been my major motivating factor. But over time, I keep saying to myself: ‘It’s the direct-care worker, stupid,’” says Joanne Rader. “The only way to make the lives of people with dementia better is to improve the working lives of […]
Patti Green: We Have to Learn to Speak Up
“Most of the people that get into this work are women, and they have kids,” says Patti Green of her fellow direct-care workers. “A lot of them are single. They need to earn a decent hourly rate of pay, and they need to have health insurance.”
“That would attract more people, and then if they had […]
Anna Ortigara: We Need to Treat Direct-Care Workers Like Adults
“There has been a lot of paternalism about direct-care staff – the notion that they are not really adults,” says Anna Ortigara. “People wonder: Are they really capable of being in a lead role? Can they be trusted to make good decisions? Are they capable of self-direction?”
Instead of these questions, Ortigara believes, we should ask […]
Barbara Bowers: Studying CNA Work Like an Anthropologist
“I’ve seen a tremendous change in the view of direct-care workers,” says researcher Barbara J. Bowers. “I don’t think you’ll find a lot of people in long-term care any more who say ‘They’re lazy, they’re incompetent, they don’t know anything.’ I think there’s a tremendous amount of respect.
“The trouble is, managers think it’s their job […]
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