The July issue of The Gerontologist is devoted to findings from the Better Jobs Better Care research and demonstration project. BJBC, which began in 2002 and ended in 2006, was the largest initiative in the nation ever created to address the high vacancy and turnover rates of direct-care workers by improving the quality of direct-care jobs. The initiative involved changing both public policy and employer practice. Demonstration grants were made to groups in Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
A nine-page overview lays out how and why the project came into being, the problems affecting the direct-care workforce, and how awareness of and responsiveness to those problems is changing. The essay is by Robyn Stone (pictured), executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, and PHI President Steven Dawson. FAS and PHI conceived of BJBC and provided technical assistance to the grantees. Funding was supplied by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies.
Among the findings detailed in the issue:
Direct-care workers across long-term settings identified more pay, improved communication, better supervision, and being treated with respect as the most important things employers could do to improve jobs.
After accounting for satisfaction with wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities — good basic supervision was most important in affecting CNAs to stay in their jobs.
There is a positive correlation between CNA job commitment and resident satisfaction.
Are rising gas prices making it harder for you to deliver or receive care? Add your comments at the end of this post.
We all feel the pinch from high gas prices, but for home care workers it’s more of a punch. As PHI President Steven Dawson puts it: “The doubling of gas prices over the past few years has been like a pay cut for many home care workers — particularly those serving clients in rural areas.
“Policy makers like to believe that home care is cheaper than nursing homes, but that’s only true because home care workers are paid less than nursing home workers, often without health benefits,” adds Dawson. “There’s not much good to say about higher gas prices, except perhaps that they will now force policy makers to look more closely at the real costs of shifting toward home-based care, and in response create realistic reimbursement policies that will offer home care workers a true livable wage and benefits.”
When PHI’s Michigan State Director Hollis Turnham wrote about the home care gas crisis in our blog in June, talking about the problems she was already hearing about, anticipating others, and asking what other people were experiencing, the response was swift and impassioned. An employer called rising gas prices “the 500 lb gorilla in the room for home care agencies.” A home care worker talked about seeing turnover increase and “looking for something closer to home myself.” The head of a home care and hospice aide recruitment agency said he planned to do “something very tangible to address this issue,” though he wasn’t ready yet to say just what.
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.”
We talk a lot about how direct-care workers help people achieve independence, but isn’t that really a contradiction in terms? I’m wondering because I just listened to Our Vulnerability is Our Strength, an essay read on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
In his June 8 broadcast, Colin Bates (pictured), a resident service assistant and a student at Pennsylvania State University, argued that the key to relationships in long-term care - or any other setting, for that matter - is interdependence. Describing the two men with profound mental retardation who he assists as “my bosses, essentially,” Bates talked about what he does to assist them and why he loves his work. “I believe in helplessness,” he said, “which is to say I believe we need other humans.”
“The cool thing about the guys I work for is that they make their needs explicit,” he said. “Things that take seconds for most of us, like changing socks, can take hours for them, but their vulnerability isn’t a handicap so much as an example. Being with them, encouraging them-‘Yes, the socks are on! The socks are off!’-puts things into perspective.”
If you’re looking for tools to help you explain why direct-care workers need better health care coverage, you might be interested the PHI Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign’s new video and updated website.
In the video The Most Dangerous Job in America, (click on image) CNA Catherine Lawrence and Health Care for Health Care Workers National Director Carol Regan talk about the high on-the-job injury rates that make direct-care work the most dangerous job in America - and the fact that nursing assistants are twice as likely as the average American to be uninsured. What’s wrong with that picture?
The Health Care for Health Care Workers website was recently redesigned to make it easier to find what you need - including fact sheets and other publications; personal stories from workers, employers, and consumers; descriptions of the campaign’s work in Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and Pennsylvania; and more.
The July issue of The Gerontologist is devoted to findings from the Better Jobs Better Care research and demonstration project. BJBC, which began in 2002 and ended in 2006, was the largest initiative in the nation ever created to address the high vacancy and turnover rates of direct-care workers by improving the quality of direct-care jobs. The initiative involved changing both public policy and employer practice. Demonstration grants were made to groups in Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
A nine-page overview lays out how and why the project came into being, the problems affecting the direct-care workforce, and how awareness of and responsiveness to those problems is changing. The essay is by Robyn Stone (pictured), executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, and PHI President Steven Dawson. FAS and PHI conceived of BJBC and provided technical assistance to the grantees. Funding was supplied by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies.
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.
We talk a lot about how direct-care workers help people achieve independence, but isn’t that really a contradiction in terms? I’m wondering because I just listened to Our Vulnerability is Our Strength, an essay read on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
Recent Comments