The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies September 18, 2012
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Health Care Documentary Highlights CNA's Central Role
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 | | Cynthia Y. Johnson |
The Waiting Room captures the rhythms of life in an overburdened big-city emergency room--and demonstrates the crucial role direct care workers play in our health care system.
The film, which began a limited theatrical run last month, documents a dysfunctional system, showing how people without insurance must resort to the ER for chronic conditions that could easily be controlled if only they could afford to see a family doctor or buy needed medication. It's a disturbing state of affairs, yet the movie feels hopeful, thanks to the kindness, competence and compassion of the staff and the lengths to which they go to help their patients. And of all the caring professionals in The Waiting Room, none are more impressive, or more important, than Cynthia Y. Johnson, the CNA who manages the Oakland waiting room of the title. Read more.
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Direct from Washington, DC
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Scheduled federal spending cuts would slash health care jobs: Under the Budget Control Act of 2011, automatic cuts to federal spending will go into effect January 1, 2013, if Congress has not created a plan to reduce the deficit by then. This so-called sequestration would cut $1.2 trillion in spending over the next ten years, including cuts both to defense and to non-defense programs such as health, human services, labor, and education. Despite continued growing demand, sequestration would also reduce job openings for direct care workers. Recent analysis shows that sequestration's required 2 percent cut in federal Medicare payments to providers could mean health care and related industries could lose up to 766,000 jobs by 2021. Nursing and residential care facilities, and home healthcare services are among the top five employment sectors that would be affected by the Medicare funding cuts. In 2013, it is predicted that nursing and residential care facilities would lose 38,115 jobs and home health care services 25,547. In 2021, these numbers would be expected to grow to 63,946 and 39,143, respectively. Learn more about the effect of sequestration on the health care industry nationwide and in your state and link to the report.
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A CNA's Journey: From Healthy to Fragile in the Blink of an Eye
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 | | Peggy Arvanitas |
Except for a few years when I sold real estate, I've been working in health care for my whole adult life-in a hospital pharmacy for over 12 years and then in home care as a CNA. Still I did not understand the despair that can be caused by illness and accidents until I became a "pre-existing condition" myself. The dancer is becoming the dance.
Last December, I was driving down a street when someone plowed into the passenger side of my car. It was another CNA, actually. She had just gotten out of the rehab center where she worked. It felt like getting hit by a freight train.
Read more from Peggy Arvanitas.
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