The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies May 6, 2014
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Join us on Twitter to Talk About Quality Care and Services for Older Adults
| To help observe Older Americans Month this May, join Direct Care Alliance, The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care and Eldercare Workforce Alliance on May 14 from 2 to 3PM ET on Twitter. We'll be tweet-chatting about ways of ensuring quality care and services for older adults, including creating a strong, respected, well-trained and supported direct care workforce. Use hashtag #OAM2014 to join the conversation.
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Why It's Crucial to Make the Link Between Better Jobs and Better Care
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Deborah Little is the chair of the Sociology department at Adelphi University. Her chapter in Caring on the Clock, a book on direct care work that is due out this fall from Rutgers, looks at DCA's work to support and empower direct care worker advocates. She recently talked to DCA's Elise Nakhnikian about what strategies are most effective and why.
 | | Voices Institute students at work with an instructor (far left). |
What got you interested in this topic?
I was hired by DCA to do an evaluation of the pilot senior CNA project that started three years ago. As part of that, Leonila [Vega] invited me to attend a national Voices Institute in Wisconsin, because five participants from the senior CNA project attended that year. At the Voices Institute, I got very interested in the organizing and empowerment work that DCA was doing.
What got me interested in this topic was a moment where one of the workers at the Voices Institute was willing to give up a wage increase because she thought it would be difficult for her clients to afford the extra cost. I thought, how can this be? How can she not readily see the connection between the quality of her job and the quality of the care she is giving? And how can she be so willing to sacrifice her own needs and the needs of her family? Read more.
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Direct from Washington, D.C.
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DCA Speaking at Capitol Hill Briefing: Just a reminder: DCA's Jessica Brill Ortiz is speaking this Thursday at a Washington, D.C. briefing on long-term care, services and supports hosted by OWL--The Voice of Midlife and Older Women. Jessica will speak about the critical role played by direct care workers and how best to strengthen and support the workforce so workers can meet the growing demand for reliable, high-quality care and services. Learn more and RSVP.
Bill to Increase Minimum Wage Blocked in Senate: Last Wednesday, the
U.S. Senate voted against opening debate on a minimum wage bill, thereby blocking it. The bill, introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour over the course of 30 months. The bill would also provide automatic annual increases pegged to inflation. Raising the federal minimum wage would give covered workers--including many direct care workers--an urgently needed raise and boost the consumer spending that drives the U.S. economy.
White House Summit on Working Families Offers Opportunities for Direct Care Worker Involvement: On June 23, the White House Summit on Working Families will focus on how to strengthen the nation's workplaces to better support working families, and more. Hosted by the Center for American Progress, the Department of Labor and the White House Council on Women and Girls, the event will convene advocates, businesses, economists, labor leaders, policymakers, media and others. Learn more about how you and your colleagues can share your perspectives on how to help ensure a strong, well-supported direct care workforce that's equipped to meet our nation's booming demand for high-quality long-term care, services and support.
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What Older Americans Really Need
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 | | Jessica Brill Ortiz |
May is Older Americans Month, traditionally a time to recognize older adults' contributions to the United States. But if we genuinely want to use this May to give back to the parents, grandparents and other elders who have done so much for us, we must turn our attention to the direct care workers who help millions of older adults live as healthily and independently as possible. We must stop shortchanging elders by turning our backs on the direct care workers they depend on. Read the rest of DCA National Advocacy Director Jessica Brill Ortiz's editorial in The Hill's Congress blog.
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Get Direct Care Workers Covered: Dorothy's Story
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 | | Dorothy Lee |
Dorothy Lee is a home health aide living in New York City who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare), with the help of our Get Direct Care Workers Covered initiative.
I've been working for an agency here in New York for three years. Before that, I worked at a Ritz-Carlton in Florida. When I moved here I wanted to switch to working with the elderly. I like working with people, and when my grandmother was old I didn't get to give her any attention. It feels good to be able to help other people's grandparents.
When I worked at the hotel I had insurance through Aetna, but I started going without insurance soon after I started doing home health care. Read more from Dorothy.
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Quick Links
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Direct from the Headlines
| An Older Americans Month toolkit from Eldercare Workforce Alliance focuses on promoting the health and safety of older Americans.
"Home care services are among the most important work there is, and if we want it to be done well, dedicated home care workers should be compensated at a level that reflects their commitment and skills," says an editorial by Maine's Portland Press-Herald.
Vermont home care workers have reached a tentative agreement with the state that includes significant raises and an annual cost-of-living adjustment.
A new publication from Center for Law and Social Policy shows that direct care workers and other low-income workers are far less likely to get paid leave than higher-wage workers and describes laws and policies aimed at leveling that playing field.
Want to know how to find and keep good direct care workers?
London, Ontario's home care agency is criticized for spending 20% of its budget on salaries for people who set limits for services--enough to pay personal support workers for roughly 34.4 million hours of service a year. In a related story, Ontario is planning to increase pay for personal support workers by $4 an hour over the next two years.
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