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“The residents come to know you better and trust you,” says a CNA of the changes a nursing home experienced after implementing consistent assignment.

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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When direct-care workers and their clients can’t get the support they need through government agencies, they can always try the courts. That’s what Oregon resident Clay Freeman is doing in a federal civil-rights lawsuit, which would require the state to increase the base pay for some home care aides in the Oregon Home Care Commission (OHCC).

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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“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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A July 6 feature in the New York Times details ways that high gas prices are making it difficult for elders nationwide to access Meals on Wheels, home care, and other social services.

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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Update: Jane Gross emailed me on the Fourth of July to enthusiastically invite “your readers — direct care workers, supervisors or anyone else” to contribute to her blog. This is a great opportunity to talk to long-term care consumers and family members about the challenges and rewards and importance of direct-care work. Maybe we can raise a little consciousness, even recruit some valuable allies for the quality care through quality jobs movement. — Elise

A new blog by New York Times health writer Jane Gross (pictured) provides a fascinating window into the world of family caregivers, including their thoughts about direct-care workers.

Gross started the blog after she helped her own mother find care and became a magnet for questions from colleagues at the paper who were in the same position. They all felt as overwhelmed as she had when she first encountered the long-term care system, like sailors trying to navigate the ocean in a rudderless boat (okay, so that’s my metaphor, not hers, but you get the idea.)

Having essentially the same conversation over and over made Gross realize how many people share the same questions and concerns, so she started the blog to provide “a source of information and community for grown children faced with these new responsibilities, for the elderly adjusting to unwelcome limitations and dependency, [for] employers interested in easing the burden, for professionals in the field and for anyone else who wants to chime in.”

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On June 12, Tracy Lawless and Simone Baer of PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign in Pennsylvania spoke at the Consumers Union’s Cover America Tour press event in Pittsburgh. The two discussed the need for affordable health care for direct-care workers – and all Pennsylvanians.

In a speech that was partially captured on a short video of the event, Lawless spoke about the role health care coverage for direct-care workers plays in providing quality care for America’s greatest generation. “It has been shown before that affordable health care is key to keeping direct-care workers in their jobs,” she says. “This retention is critical to consistency of care.”

Read more, watch the video, read Lawless’s testimony in full, or comment