Iowa State University Football Coach Paul Rhoads stars in a public service announcement (PSA) asking viewers to join him in giving thanks “today and every day” for the “valuable and demanding work” that direct-care workers do.
Coach Rhoads compares direct-care workers to the linemen on his team — both work “in the trenches” and “rarely get the credit they deserve.” He produced the PSA for the Iowa Caregivers Association (ICA).
“What is special about Paul Rhoads’ public service announcement is the messenger!” said ICA Executive Director Di Findley.
“It is the contrast between a tough game like football and caregiving or nurturing that grabs one’s attention. It is a powerful message that compares direct-care workers to football linemen and sends the message that the value of these unsung heroes knows no boundaries,” Findley said.
The PSA will be aired on Iowa’s local cable stations and television networks.
ICA is also trying to secure paid sponsorship for the announcement in an effort to get it more air time. Already, Iowa Health Des Moines plans to sponsor the spot during some of its “Medical Minute” segments.
A guest column in the Des Moines Register by John Hale, a public policy consultant for the Iowa Caregivers Association (ICA), debunks the myth that home health care aides and other direct-care workers are low-skilled workers.
In “Care Workers with Low Skills? Hardly,” Hale refutes an Associated Pressarticle published over Labor Day weekend that refers to a direct-care worker job as being a “lower skill and lower-paying job.”
He writes that the authors got this “half right” and explains the difference between having skills and having a formal education that results in academic degrees.
Hale describes the plethora of skills required to be a direct-care worker and emphatically makes the point that having an advanced degree does not mean that you have the skills to provide services and supports to older adults or people with disabilities.
Appreciated But Not Compensated
He laments that artists and athletes are valued for the gifts they have been “blessed with” and are paid “handsomely,” but society has yet to compensate (pdf) direct-care workers for the gifts that they possess. Many people may value the work of these paid caregivers, he writes, “yet [they] remain comfortable with them living in near poverty status.”
Hale tells readers that they should ask candidates who are “asking for your vote this fall” what they plan to do for direct-care workers and then “vote accordingly.”
‘Come Care With Me’ in Iowa
Hale has informed PHI that “the Iowa Caregivers Association has received expressions of interest from the two leading candidates for Iowa Governor to participate in Come Care With Me events,” and “dates and locations for the events are now being discussed with the campaigns.”
Come Care With Me events are designed to better inform elected officials about the work performed by direct care workers in a variety of care settings.
“ICA is also working with several key leaders in the Iowa legislature to schedule Come Care With Me events with them,” Hale added.
On May 26, after months of debate among state lawmakers, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed into law a bill that will impose a quality assurance fee on all for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes in order to leverage matching federal money. The state’s direct-care workers are among those who are expected to benefit. Read the full story
By Colleen Jolly, ICA Board of Directors 
On May 26, after months of debate among state lawmakers, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver signed into law a bill that will impose a quality assurance fee on all for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes in order to leverage matching federal money. The state’s direct-care workers are among those who are expected to benefit. 
