The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies
February 14, 2012
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Why Minimum Wage and Overtime for Home Care Workers Helps All of Us
|  As the executive director of Alpha One, Maine's Center for Independent Living, and a longtime advocate for people with a disability, I have experienced direct care work as a consumer, an employer, and an advocate. Home care workers play a vital role in allowing people to remain independent, in their own homes, and active in their communities, and they deserve the basic labor protections guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Read more from Dennis Fitzgibbons (pictured). |
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Direct from Washington, DC
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FY 2013 budget plan holds promise for low-wage workers: Yesterday, President Obama submitted his FY 2013 budget plan, which demonstrates the Administration's commitment to making quality, affordable health care available to all Americans and to helping workers in low-wage jobs. The budget also seeks to address some of the revenue challenges that face our nation. The Direct Care Alliance will be monitoring the budget process closely and advocating to ensure that the Administration and Congress pass a budget that increases our investment in direct care jobs and improves the quality of long-term care. We cannot require further sacrifices from direct care workers and the millions of elderly and people with disabilities who depend on them every day. Click on the links below to check out the proposed budgets for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor, and stay tuned to The Direct Care News to learn how you can help make sure that the FY 2013 budget supports direct care workers and the people they care for.
The ABCs of ACOs: There's been a lot of talk about the Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) described in the Affordable Care Act, but most of us don't understand quite what they would do. Thankfully, Families USA has developed a terrific series of issue briefs that explain what ACOs are (entities made of of health care providers from across the continuum of care), what they would do (work together to improve care quality and control costs), and how they might affect the delivery of health care services. |
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My Group Home Away from Home
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 "I've seen people of all races and from all walks of life come to work here, and I believe we Africans make excellent direct care workers," says Kenya native and direct care worker Dorcas Sumba (pictured). Read more about how Dorcas grew to love working in a group home for people with developmental disabilities, the career she found after moving to this country.
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