The University of California San Francisco’s five-year-old Center for Personal Assistance Services (PAS Center) learned last week that is has been funded for another five years by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. In a news release about the grant, Charlene Harrington (pictured), the Center’s director and principal investigator, describes the center’s goal as “providing support so that people with disabilities can live and work independently in their community, as opposed to being institutionalized in a nursing home.”

Starting this October, the center will focus on three areas under the $4.25 million grant: improving access to PAS by individuals with disabilities; improving the workforce to support individuals with disabilities, and understanding the complexities of the economics of PAS. The center has done research documenting low wages, a scarcity of health care benefits, and high turnover rates among PAS workers.

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“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 have to be flexible and a quick thinker. You also need patience and empathy and creativity. We’re not going to get anywhere in terms of policy advocacy or getting the supports we need in place without clearly articulating that this is a highly skilled job.”

Hewitt is a senior research associate at the University of Minnesota’s Research and Training Center on Community Living. The center’s mission is to support community living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities - and that has led to a focus on strengthening and supporting the direct support workforce.

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The first national survey of what long-term care experts think about the state of long-term care in the U.S.A. and how it can be reformed tallied the responses of 1,147 people (44.5 percent of those polled) to an online questionnaire. According to The Commonwealth Fund Long-Term Care Opinion Leader Survey: Top-Level Findings, (pdf), a one-page summary of its findings, the survey was intended to “help move the LTC reform debate forward,” as we cannot afford to wait any longer to prepare for the coming baby boomer age wave.

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On the same page, you’ll find a link to the CDS’s podcasts, which will include A Day in the Life of a DSP.

Currently on that page is a video about Patrick Jordan, which shows him in action while his father (pictured above with Patrick) tells his story. The Jordans are participants in a Minnesota residential program that has transformed their lives, allowing Patrick to achieve a new degree of independence.

“He’s not in a fishbowl any more,” says Patrick’s delighted father. “His needs haven’t gone away, but our ability to approach them in a more personal, more respectful fashion has made a huge difference to him.”

Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org

The new system also benefits the home’s direct-care workers, according to a one-page report (pdf) by the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for Iowa. “The staff have ownership and they are loving it,” says Assistant Administrator Deb Pascoe. Staff chose the neighborhoods they wanted to work in and divided resident caseloads.

The report describes an initiative by Wyndcrest Nursing Home in Clinton, Iowa, which piloted the change on one shift for several months before introducing it on others. “It’s important to remember that change takes time,” Pascoe explains. “Pilot testing provided us with an opportunity to work through problems before implementing it facility-wide.”

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Only by guaranteeing workers a sufficient wage, says Freeman v. Goldberg et al., (pdf) can Freeman hire the help he needs to exercise his federally granted right, under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to live at home and remain a functioning member of his community. And the wages paid to his workers, the suit says, must reflect the complex levels of care they deliver.

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Measuring Worker Turnover in Long-Term Care: Lessons From the Better Jobs Better Care Demonstration discusses and charts various ways of calculating turnover. Those differences likely account for a significant amount of the wide variation in reported rates, it says. For example Florida’s relatively low turnover rate is probably due to the fact that the state doesn’t count workers until they’ve completed their first three months of employment, when turnover is typically at its highest.

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“The Baby Boom generation will need care, and most people today prefer to stay in their homes, so in order to attract and maintain people like Rosa, we need to make sure they’re paid a livable wage, that they have health care benefits and that they have the training they deserve,” Washington Governor Christine Gregoire told Tacoma Weekly. Gregoire was talking about having shadowed Tacoma home care worker Rosa Vadillo for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)’s June 30 “Walk A Day In My Shoes” event.

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The Progressive Leadership and Advocacy Network (PLAN) is for “emerging advocacy leaders working to effect positive change for low-income women and their families.” It helps participants become more effective advocates by strengthening their leadership and advocacy skills, in-depth policy knowledge, and networks of connection in the field. It is run by the National Women’s Law Center.

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As Gas Prices Soar, Elderly Face Cuts in Aid is brimming with sobering facts, figures, and quotes - like one from home Katie Clark in Union, Michigan. A single mother of two, Clark says an elderly couple she assists are “just like family to me,” but she sometimes has to borrow money so she can get to their house. Clark earns about $250 a week and spends $100 of it on gas.

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