The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies November 13, 2012
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Closing the Circle of Care for Our Veterans
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 We are at our best, as human beings and as Americans, when we take care of one another. That's something Air Force Captain Merritt Eugene Lawlis (or Gene, as he's known to everyone but the armed forces) knows well.
When Gene was shot down in the South Pacific in WWII, Japanese troops imprisoned him and his surviving crewmates in a POW camp for five and a half months. "He's about 6 feet tall and he usually weighs about 170 pounds, but he was down to 125 when the war ended," says his wife Naomi. "All they had to eat was two little rice balls a day, so they got beriberi. They didn't get any medical care either. His plane caught fire when it went down, and his leg was pretty badly burned. They got malaria, because there were flies all around. At least a couple of the boys died." Read the rest of DCA Interim Executive Director David Ward's Veteran's Day bog post in the Huffington Post. |
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Direct from Washington, DC
|  Insurance premiums likely to increase in states that don't expand Medicaid: The Affordable Care Act (also known as the ACA and Obamacare) expands Medicaid eligibility so more people have access to health care. However, the Supreme Court's June 2012 ruling on the ACA allows states to choose whether or not to expand their Medicaid programs. Individuals in states that do not expand Medicaid will likely see an increase in their health insurance premiums for private insurance plans.
Access to affordable health care to increase with Insurance Exchange plans underway: As part of the Affordable Care Act, state-based competitive marketplaces called Affordable Insurance Exchanges will be set up to ensure that people who don't receive insurance through their jobs have access to high-quality coverage. Starting in 2014, the exchanges will make buying health coverage easier and more affordable by allowing individuals and small businesses to compare health plans, get additional information and enroll in a health plan. States that choose to set up these exchanges themselves have to submit their plan to federal regulators by November 16. The federal government will set up exchanges in states that don't create their own exchange. Learn about the impact of the law on direct care workers and whether your state has started to set up an exchange.
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New Mexico Caregivers Convene for Educational Conference
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 | | Iliana Lopez (L) and Fermina Lopez |
The third annual New Mexico Direct Caregivers Summit for family and professional caregivers took place on November 2 at Sandia Casino and Resort in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The event was held by the New Mexico Direct Caregivers Coalition, which scheduled it just prior to the 2012 elections to emphasize the importance of advocating for caregivers at the state and national levels, as our population ages and the demand for care increases. "The information about the demographic changes expected for the United States and New Mexico is very important," said home care worker Iliana Lopez of La Plaza de Encuentro in Albuquerque. "For this reason, we should communicate to legislators the importance of more training for domestic caregivers. And, given the numbers of Spanish speakers in our state, access to Spanish language training and materials is imperative." Read more.
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Looking for a Few Good Direct Support Professional Employers
|  The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) and the Research and Training Center (RTC) at the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration are seeking nominations for the 2013 Moving Mountains Award. The purpose of the award is to recognize organizations using best practices in direct support staff workforce development that result in improved outcomes for the people being supported. Read more.
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The Direct Care Alliance is the national advocacy voice of direct care workers in long-term care. We empower workers to speak out for better wages, benefits, respect, and working conditions, so more people can commit to direct care as a career. We also convene powerful allies nationwide to build consensus for change.
If you have comments on this issue of The Direct Care News or ideas for future issues, please contact Elise Nakhnikian at 646-823-7434, enakhnikian@directcarealliance.org. |
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