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August 23, 2007
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In This Issue:
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Training Found to Increase Job Satisfaction, Reduce Turnover
A geriatric case management training program for personal care attendants increased job satisfaction and reduced turnover among younger workers, according to an article in Care Management Journals:The Journal of Long Term Home Health Care.
"Enhanced Care Assistant Training to Address the Workforce Crisis in Home Care: Changes Related to Job Satisfaction and Career Commitment" found that the training program significantly increased the likelihood that workers would stay in their current jobs. Participants, noted the report's authors, were more likely to "resist career disruption in the face of adversity."
Changes to job satisfaction varied depending on the worker's age, increasing for younger workers but decreasing for older ones. This suggests that younger workers may have seen the training as an added boost to their future careers, while more experienced staff may have become more frustrated "when newly learned enlightened practices could not be applied due to organization barriers and bureaucratic inefficiency," the authors speculate.
The article is available free to subscribers only; others must click here to purchase a copy .
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Recent additions
Click here for more news from the Clearinghouse.
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Worker Association Leaders Invited to Get Involved in HCHCW
Nearly 70 direct-care worker leaders and their supporters from 17 states heard from HCHCW National Campaign Manager Allison Wagner and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, about the need for better health care coverage and ways of obtaining it in Des Moines, Iowa, this month. The discussions were part of a national conference of direct-care worker associations sponsored by the Direct Care Alliance (DCA) and hosted by the Iowa CareGivers Association.
Click here for the rest of the story.
Direct Care Worker Initiative Helps Keep Maine Health Bill Alive
An initiative launched last fall by Maine PASA to raise legislators' awareness of direct-care workers and to get direct-care workers involved in helping to shape the state's legislative agenda appears to have helped keep alive LD 1876, a bill that would extend health insurance to more Maine workers.
Joyce Gagnon, who spearheaded the effort, called other Maine PASA members and asked if they'd be willing to call or write to their legislators. "We asked to talk to them about the specific kind of work they did and the skills they used to do it, because there are so many kinds of direct-care workers out there. We asked them to talk about health insurance: did they have it? We asked them to talk about what effect not having it - or having it - had." They also asked for support of the bills then in session that would help direct-care workers, which included LD 1687.
Click here for the rest of the story.
Home Care Worker Talks about the Importance of Health Care Coverage
Oregon home care provider Marilyn T had colon cancer, but she was lucky: she had health insurance through her employer. "I am really grateful that they provide it for us, because there is no way I could afford it on my own," she says.
To read the rest of her testimonial, which was recently added to the Our Stories section of our website, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
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More Information
Click here to read more from and about the HCHCW campaign.
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Is 4.1 hours of nurse staff time per resident day enough to assure good quality of care and quality of life in nursing homes?
No: 54%
Yes: 46%
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Dear Friend,
We do our best to keep on top of the news affecting direct-care workers, but we don't hear about everything, so I'm always grateful when one of our readers lets me know about something they think we should cover. I'm thinking about that now because that's how I learned about three of the stories in this issue.
If you're doing anything -- or know of anything -- that should be covered here, please send me an e-mail or give me a call. You'll find my contact info at the bottom of every issue.
And thanks for the heads up, Connie, Mary, and Barbara!
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New Federal Minimum Wage Will Benefit Many Direct-Care Workers
The first federal minimum wage increase in a decade, which went into effect last month, is expected to benefit many direct-care workerseither directly or indirectly. The hike followed a spate of state-based minimum wage hikes implemented earlier this year.
The minimum wage rose from $5.15 to $5.85 this summer and will reach $7.25 in two years. Most direct-care workers earn more than that (as of May 2006, the median wage for direct-care workers was $9.85), but many do not. Among personal and home care aides, approximately ten percent currently earn $6.05 or less, while a quarterover 150,000 workersearn just over $7 an hour. Some of those workers would have already received raises that bring their hourly pay to more than $7.25 two years from now, but many will earn raises to keep up with the rising minimum wage.
Click here for the rest of the story.
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What a Difference Management Makes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting a satellite broadcast and webcast next month on leadership and workplace practices that allow homes to provide individualized care. Practices discussed will include stabilizing staffing, staffing in ways that build relationships, honoring what staff and residents say they need, and involving both staff and residents in how to individualize daily routines.
Aimed at nursing home operators, surveyors, and others who work with them, "The How of Change - What a difference management makes!" is the fourth in a four-part series on how to provide individualized care. It will take place on September 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Click here for registration, viewing instructions, satellite coordinates, and handouts.
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Candidate Obama Learns from the Source about Home Care Work
Presidential candidate Barack Obama went to work this month with a home care aide as part of the Walk a Day in My Shoes initiative sponsored by the Service Employees International Union.
The SEIU has invited all the presidential candidates to accompany one of its members for several hours to learn more about what their job involves, and about the difficulties of living with low wages and inadequate benefits. Senator Obama accompanied Pauline Beck of Alameda, California, a mother of six children who earns $10.50 an hour and gets no sick time, overtime, or vacation pay. "After spending a day with me, I hope Senator Obama sees the energy home care workers give to their clients, and what it takes to raise a family as a single mom," she is quoted as saying on the SEIU's website.
"The priority that Pauline placed on having paid sick leave reminds me of how important that is to the workforce as a whole, many of whom are in her position and don't have paid sick leave," he says in an SEIU video of the event.
As reported in the May 17 issue of Quality Jobs/Quality Care, candidate John Edwards spent a day with a New York nursing assistant as part of the same initiative. Other candidates have accompanied low-wage workers in other professions.
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AARP Funds Scholarship for Women 40 and Over
An AARP scholarship for women 40 and older could benefit people who want to become direct-care workers or direct-care workers who want to become licensed nurses.
The AARP Foundation established the Women's Scholarship Program in response to research showing that women are disproportionately at risk of having insufficient resources in the second half of their lives, due to lower earnings and different work patterns than men. Its goal is to help women 40 and over participate in education and training opportunities they could not otherwise afford.
It will award up to 100 scholarships this year of $500 to $5,000 for any course of study at a public or private secondary school, including community colleges, technical schools, and four-year universities. Funds may be used to pay for tuition fees, and books.
The application form and additional information on the scholarship program will be available only online beginning August 31. Applications must be submitted no later than October 31.
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Letter to Editor Calls for More Spending Staffing
A letter to the editor making the rounds on the Internet calculates that more than 5,000 additional certified nursing assistants could be hired at Manor Care for the sum that will be paid to the nursing home chain's CEO when it is sold later this year.
Noting that CEO Paul Ormond is reported to be about to receive between $118 million and $186 million when Manor Care is acquired by a private equity group, Toby S. Edelman of the Center for Medicare Advocacy writes: "Knowing that the federal government has reported that more than 90% of nursing homes do not have enough staff to take care of their residents, we wondered how many nurses and nurse aides could be hired for a year at Manor Care's nursing facilities with that same money."
Assuming average salary levels, Edelman calculated that the chain could hire an additional 5,346 CNAs with the lower amount and an additional 8,427 CNAs - more than 30 at each Manor Care nursing home - with the larger amount. She also calculated how many registered nurses the money could pay for.
"Like all nursing home chains, most of Manor Care's revenues come from public programs, Medicare and Medicaid," she writes. "How should our public health care dollars be spent? One man's windfall or certified nurse assistants and registered nurses in nursing homes?"
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Good Management Tops List in Nursing Home Job Satisfaction Survey
Speaking of the importance of management, a survey of more 106,000 nursing home staff in nearly 2,000 homes found that good management topped the list of the things most likely to make a nursing home worker recommend the place where they worked as a good one. The three most-cited responses were "Management cares," "Management listens," and "I get help with my job stress." Other factors listed as important include the safety of the workplace and supervisors who show appreciation for a job well done and share important work-related information.
The 2006 National Survey of Nursing Home Satisfaction surveyed nursing home staff at all levels in every state but Alaska and the District of Columbia. A third of the respondents were nursing assistants. Nursing assistants reported the lowest overall satisfaction rates, with just 54 percent choosing "excellent" or "good," compared to 78 percent of the managers and nurses in administration. The survey was conducted by My InnerView.
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Outsourcing Care
You'd think direct care work was one job that can't be outsourced, but you'd be wrong. An article in the July 29 Chicago Tribune describes the experiences of a North Carolina man who moved his parents from Florida to India when they began to require more care than he could afford to pay for in this country - partly because direct-care workers there may even less than they do here. According to the article, the couple pays so little for a six-person staff that they now bank $1,000 a month of their $3,000 Social Security payment.
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Septemer 10-11, 2007
Iowa CareGivers Association Conference, West Des Moines, IA
September 12, 2007
2007 Annual CNA Conference, Joplin, MO
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