from PHI Blog
As patients continue to leave hospitals "sicker and quicker," home health care delivery is becoming more complicated. With patients needing more - and more complex - care, the workers in this "under the radar" health care setting face increased health and safety risks.
In addition to occupational hazards normally associated with health care delivery in general (e.g., contaminated sharps, heavy lifting, etc.), households can also present a wide range of potential occupational health hazards, from vermin to violence. Combined, these can put home care workers - including nearly 2 million direct care workers - at risk of occupational injury and illness.
Read the rest of the post
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Major Grants for Direct Care Workforce in Health Reform
from PHI, published by A. Toleos in the June 23, 2010 e-newsletter
PHI's Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign has released a fact sheet highlighting key health reform provisions related to investments in direct-care worker training and workforce development.
Health Reform Facts 1: Workforce Development and Training Opportunites for Direce Care Workers (pdf)
These investments include the creation of national advisory panels as well as grant opportunities for states and individual employers.
The following listt from the fact sheet summarizes the key opportunities available between now and when the law is fully implemented in 2014. Download the full fact sheet (pdf) for more information.
Commissions:
Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Title VIII, Sec 8002)
National Health Care Workforce Commission (Title V, Subtitle B, Sec 5101)
Training Grants:
Personal and Home Care Aide State Training Program (Title V, Subtitle 5, Sec 5507 (b))
Nursing Assistant and Home Health Aide Program (Title V, Subtitle D, Sec 5309)
Training Opportunites for Direct Care Workers (Title V, Subtitle D, Sec 5302)
Workforce Development:
State Health Care Workforce Development Grants (Title V, Subtitle B, Sec 5102)
Enhancement of Long-Term Care (Title VI, Subtitle H, Sec 6703)
More information related to health reform and its impact on elder care and disability services is available at the PHI Health Reform Resource Center.
PHI's Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign has released a fact sheet highlighting key health reform provisions related to investments in direct-care worker training and workforce development.
Health Reform Facts 1: Workforce Development and Training Opportunites for Direce Care Workers (pdf)
These investments include the creation of national advisory panels as well as grant opportunities for states and individual employers.
The following listt from the fact sheet summarizes the key opportunities available between now and when the law is fully implemented in 2014. Download the full fact sheet (pdf) for more information.
Commissions:
Personal Care Attendants Workforce Advisory Panel (Title VIII, Sec 8002)
National Health Care Workforce Commission (Title V, Subtitle B, Sec 5101)
Training Grants:
Personal and Home Care Aide State Training Program (Title V, Subtitle 5, Sec 5507 (b))
Nursing Assistant and Home Health Aide Program (Title V, Subtitle D, Sec 5309)
Training Opportunites for Direct Care Workers (Title V, Subtitle D, Sec 5302)
Workforce Development:
State Health Care Workforce Development Grants (Title V, Subtitle B, Sec 5102)
Enhancement of Long-Term Care (Title VI, Subtitle H, Sec 6703)
More information related to health reform and its impact on elder care and disability services is available at the PHI Health Reform Resource Center.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Joyce Gagnon 1943-2010
Joyce was a strong and tenacious advocate for Direct Care Workers here in Maine. She worked tirelessly building the Maine Personal Assistance Services Association, Maine's advocate for direct care workers of all kinds. Joyce worked on PASA's annual conventions, lobbying at the State House, PASA's fundraising and membership recruitment.
Just this past year, Joyce was an active member of the Direct Care Worker Taskforce, a group set up through Maine's Department of Health and Human Services to address many of the problems the workforce faces.
Joyce also had and hand in crafting legislation, twice, trying to bring health insurance to Maine's direct care workers. She met and talked with many leaders in the Maine Legislature about what it is like to be a caregiver, helping someone maintain their independence in their home, and not have health coverage themselves through their work.
Because of Joyce, Maine PASA became a member of the Kennebec Valley Organization. KVO took on direct care worker issues after it was learned through many round tables with members that many elders wish to remain home, but because of the issues surrounding the workforce, found it hard to get home care.
Joyce was also involved with Alpha One workers forming a union. At the time the workers unionized, their wage was $7.71 per hour. Joyce gave the union its name, Local 771, from that wage. Shortly after the union was approved by Governor Baldacci, Joyce lost the fellow she was caring for. She remained active in the union as long as she could, but then stepped down because she was no longer employed through Alpha One.
Aside from Joyce's advocacy work, she was a wonderful lady. I am honored to think of her as a friend and colleague.
I will miss her smile and wit. I will miss the meetings we had to come up with our next plan of action at the State House around legislation. I will miss the conversations we had about our families and our kitties. Joyce was a dear friend.
Helen Hanson, Local 771 and the Maine Personal Assistance Services Association
Monday, June 14, 2010
Urging Senators Snowe and Collins to support FMAP
I am a direct care worker employed by Alpha One, and am urging Senators Snowe and Collins to support extending the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage funding known as FMAP and MaineCare.
In my job, I provide direct care services for a quadriplegic woman who counts on daily direct-care services so she can continue living in her home.
For those who are not familiar with direct care services, here's what I do every day on the job.
I make her breakfast, distribute medications, provide bowel care, and assemble the sling and hoyer lift to transfer her from the bed to shower.
I bathe her, transfer her back from shower to bed, towel dry her, provide deodorant and lotions, and dress her. I provide her with skin care for her legs, and arm weights to keep her limbs strong.
I provide catheter care. I transfer her from her bed to her wheelchair. And I perform housework for her: laundry, cooking, bookkeeping, grocery shopping, errands and doctors' appointments.
Keep in mind that thousands of other direct care workers in Maine provide similar services for the Maine people they care for.
Like other direct care workers, I find it especially fulfilling that my work makes it possible for thousands of Maine people to live independently in their own homes – instead of being forced into more expensive nursing or boarding homes.
Fortunately in the past few years, Maine's leaders have recognized the urgent need to build a reliable workforce of direct care workers to meet the growing demand for these services in all Maine communities. For direct care workers at Alpha One, this resulted in a pay raise from the $7.71 an hour that our pay had been frozen at for eight years, to the current $10 an hour. There are still no benefits whatsoever.
Direct care workers in Maine are determined to provide quality care for the people they serve. Yet we were shocked to learn that unless Senators Snowe and Collins extend the FMAP funding through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, that the $85 million in cuts to follow would severely diminish the services that are helping thousands of Maine people live independently in their own homes.
Unless Senators Snowe and Collins vote to extend FMAP funding, Maine people who use direct care services would see their services substantially cut back, forcing many of them out of their homes against their will.
Direct care workers themselves would see their hourly wages cut, forcing many to find better paying work elsewhere. This would threaten the quality care provided, and create real turmoil among Maine people who count on reliable direct care services.
Finally, unless Senators Snowe and Collins extend the FMAP funding, Maine's efforts to build a reliable network of direct care workers would suffer great harm – just as the demand for direct care services is increasing all across our nation.
For these reasons, I urge Senators Snowe and Collins to approve the FMAP extensions.
Helen Hanson, of South China, is president of the Maine Direct Care Workers Union Local 771 of the Maine State Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union.
If you're reading this, please call 1-877-442-6801 and tell our Senators to support extending FMAP.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Home Care for Maine requests Renegotiation of Wages
Good news for Home Care for Maine workers - Mollie Baldwin, Home Care for Maine CEO, has requested that Article 12, the wages article of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 and Home Care for Maine, be reopened to negotiate a possible bonus and wage increase.
Article 12 states: "The Parties agree to reopen negotiations over wages, as addressed in this Article 12, if, as of July 1, 2010, the number of reimbursable hours worked by unit members exceeds four hundred thirty thousand (430,000) for the previous twelve months. Such negotiations may be scheduled to being forty to thirty days prior to July 1, 2010, if the projection of reimbursable hours worked by employees after ten months suggests that the four hundred thirty thousand hour threshold number will be reached. The negotiations will be limited to (1) a possible bonus payment to employees who are actively employed (on the active payroll) as of June 30, 2010, and (2) a possible future increase in the base hourly wage."
Congratulations to all the Home Care for Maine workers who helped reach the 430,000 reimbursable hour threshold! Your hard work and dedication to the people you help each and every day is paying off.
Article 12 states: "The Parties agree to reopen negotiations over wages, as addressed in this Article 12, if, as of July 1, 2010, the number of reimbursable hours worked by unit members exceeds four hundred thirty thousand (430,000) for the previous twelve months. Such negotiations may be scheduled to being forty to thirty days prior to July 1, 2010, if the projection of reimbursable hours worked by employees after ten months suggests that the four hundred thirty thousand hour threshold number will be reached. The negotiations will be limited to (1) a possible bonus payment to employees who are actively employed (on the active payroll) as of June 30, 2010, and (2) a possible future increase in the base hourly wage."
Congratulations to all the Home Care for Maine workers who helped reach the 430,000 reimbursable hour threshold! Your hard work and dedication to the people you help each and every day is paying off.
More than a Companion: My visit to the Department of Labor
On May 28, I was with the Direct Care Alliance in Washington, DC, again bringing direct care worker issues to the attention of decision-makers. This time, at the U.S. Department of Labor.We're all so excited about the FLSA extension issue being added to the regulatory agenda, and we met with two representatives from the Wage and Hour Division to explain why minimum wage and overtime protections are essential to creating a strong direct care workforce. The representatives were very open and honest, which I greatly appreciated. They met with us to learn more about what direct care workers do on a day-to-day basis and to understand more about our work. At one point they used the word "companion" to identify home care workers and I cringed. But I was easily able to explain to them the differences between companion and home care worker, which they appreciated.
I explained that I am more than a companion and I took them on a journey through my typical work day with my consumer - a quadriplegic woman who is totally dependent on direct care workers each day. I described the routine:
1. Make breakfast, distribute medications
2. Bowel care
3. Assembling sling and hoyer lift to transfer her from the bed to shower
4. Bathing
5. Transfer back from shower to bed, towel dry
6. Deoderant, lotions, dress upper body
7. Skin care of her legs
8. Arm weights to keep her limbs strong
9. Catheter care; drainage, secure the tubing, wrapping the catheter and port with gauze to protect her skin
10. Dress lower body
11. Transfer from bed to wheelchair
12. Housework, laundry, cooking, bookkeeping, grocery shopping, errands, doctors appointments
You might ask, "what was the point of going into such detail?" Well, the point was to demonstrate that our work goes far, far beyond simple companionship. We do not sit and watch "Price is Right" with our consumers. In fact, it is nearly impossible to even take a breather and get yourself a glass of water because you're often too busy. And as challenging and frustrating as our work can be at times, helping decision-makers understand the value of our work is exhilarating.
A display honoring labor unions in the D.O.L. lobby
posted by Helen Hanson, June 7th, Direct Care Alliance Blog
Three Years After Supreme Court Coke Decision
from PHI Blog
June 11 is the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Evelyn Coke vs. Long Island Care at Home, in which the Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor could continue to exclude home care aides from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's wage and hour protections.
Ms. Coke spent years assisting elders and people with disabilities, often working overtime without any additional pay beyond her $7 per hour wage. Her effort to sue for back wages failed, but at the same time, brought increased attention to the injustice of treating professional caregivers as "companions to the elderly and disabled."
In its decision, the Supreme Court made it clear that the Department of Labor has the authority to end the companionship exemption and ensure fair treatment for home care workers.
The PHI Fair Wage Campaign
PHI, along with allies including the Direct Care Alliance, the National Employment Law Project, and SEIU, launched a campaign in March to end the exclusion of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections.
Since June 11, 2007, home care workers have served their clients an additional 1095 days, often receiving substandard wages and no benefits.
As a result of the campaign and increased media attention, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced plans to review the "companion exemption." A proposed rule is likely to be issued for comment by October 2011.
-by Karen Kahn
June 11 is the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case Evelyn Coke vs. Long Island Care at Home, in which the Court ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor could continue to exclude home care aides from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's wage and hour protections.
Ms. Coke spent years assisting elders and people with disabilities, often working overtime without any additional pay beyond her $7 per hour wage. Her effort to sue for back wages failed, but at the same time, brought increased attention to the injustice of treating professional caregivers as "companions to the elderly and disabled."
In its decision, the Supreme Court made it clear that the Department of Labor has the authority to end the companionship exemption and ensure fair treatment for home care workers.
The PHI Fair Wage Campaign
PHI, along with allies including the Direct Care Alliance, the National Employment Law Project, and SEIU, launched a campaign in March to end the exclusion of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protections.
Since June 11, 2007, home care workers have served their clients an additional 1095 days, often receiving substandard wages and no benefits.
As a result of the campaign and increased media attention, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced plans to review the "companion exemption." A proposed rule is likely to be issued for comment by October 2011.
-by Karen Kahn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)