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September 10, 2007
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In This Issue:
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Recent additions
Click here to see what's new in the Clearinghouse.
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Pennsylvania Legislative Update
A recent story in the Scranton Times-Tribune describes efforts by Rep. Todd Eachus (D-Butler Township) to address "a wide scope of health care issues," including coverage for the uninsured. As chairman of the majority House Democrats' policy committee, Eachus will work with his Democratic colleagues to focus on health care issues raised by Governor Rendell's Prescription for Pennsylvania plan this fall, including the Cover All Pennsylvanians (CAP) health care reform plan.
Parts of the plan were passed into law this spring, including legislation to reduce hospital-acquired infections and to change the scope of practice for nurses. The primary issue to be debated this fall is whether and how to provide health insurance to almost 800,000 Pennsylvania adults who don't have it. The funding sources proposed for the bill include a "fair share" assessment for employers who do not offer health insurance.
Pennsylvanians to Rally in Support of Health Care Bill
People from all over Pennsylvania will gather in Harrisburg on October 2 for a lobby day and 1 p.m. rally in support of the proposed CAP plan, which would offer low cost health insurance to all residents of the state.
For more information, email Tracy Lawless of PHI's Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign or call 724-933-6164. The rally is sponsored by Pennsylvanians United for Affordable Health Care.
Health Care Reform Website Offers Resources, News
News, resources, and contact information for people working to expand access to health care coverage can be found on the Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN)'s newly designed website.
UHCAN's website links to information about national and state initiatives from a wide variety of sources, including the Health Care for Health Care Workers website. It also includes a section on what voters and candidates say about health care reform.
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More Information
Click here to read more from and about the HCHCW campaign.
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Long-Term Care Nursing Associations Formed
Two recently formed professional associations serve licensed nurses in long-term care. The American Association for Long Term Care Nursing aims to unite "all levels of long-term care nurses" to provide educational resources, bring visibility and respect to long-term care nursing caregivers, advocate for long-term care nursing caregivers, and support and promote excellence in care for long-term care consumers. The American Association of Nurse Executives is for nurse executives in long-term care, including directors/assistant directors of nursing, staff development coordinators, nurse managers, nurse administrators, corporate clinical directors, and clinical consultants. Created by the American Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators, it provides information, education, networking, and certification.
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Dear Friend,
We wish the best of luck to the 200 direct support professionals who are heading for Washington, DC, next week to join what may be the largest gathering of DSPs ever to occur in this country. They will attend a congressional advocacy training, go to a rally, and visit their elected representatives on Capitol Hill as part of this year's ANCOR conference.
The rallies and Hill visits will be in support of the Direct Support Professionals Fairness and Security Act of 2007, which would increase wages for Medicaid-funded DSPs.
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The Elephant in the Room: Josh Wiener on the Need to Improve Direct-Care Jobs
When Josh Wiener talks, people listen. So it's good news for everyone who's working to improve direct-care jobs that Wiener talks a lot about the looming shortage of direct-care workers. The growing care gap, he says, is "the elephant in the room" whenever people are talking about providing or reforming long-term care in the U.S.
Click here for the rest of the story.
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A High-Five to Hospice Nursing Assistants
"Hospice nursing assistants (HNAs) are often the critical link between the goals of the hospice and their implementation," says "A Salute to an Unsung Hero: The Hospice Nursing Assistant", an article in the August 2007 issue of Home Health Care Management & Practice (Volume 19, No. 5).
Authors Marianne Garrity, Maryanne Fello, and Sherry Anderson intersperse descriptions of and observations about HNA work with moving stories provided by HNAs that illustrate the key role they play.
The article is free to subscribers only; others must pay to download a copy.
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Better DCW Wages Called Essential to Strengthening PAS Services
Position papers from West Virginia's Real Choice Consumer Work Group on how to strengthen the state's personal assistance service system call for higher wages and education about how to improve working conditions for direct-care workers.
"Currently there is an extreme shortage of direct care workers to provide community-based services. One of the primary hurdles to this problem is the lack of a competitive wage for direct service workers," notes Strengthening Personal Assistance Programs in West Virginia.
The authors recommend that the state institute a wage pass-through targeted to workers. "In 2001, when the Bureau for Senior Services raised the homemaker rate one dollar, advocates who had pushed for this raise believed the raise would be given directly to those personal assistants providing the care," they write. "Instead, a majority of vendors used this money to absorb their administrative costs."
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Free Curriculum for PCAs Assisting People with Serious Psychiatric Disabilities
A new curriculum for personal care attendants assisting people with serious psychiatric disabilities is available free of charge online.
The program includes both knowledge development and skills development, which covers connecting, coaching, collaboration, and managing crises. Components include a curriculum and guides for trainers, workbooks for trainees, and a link to the website for the Louisiana program that developed the materials.
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Researchers Explore Link between Training, Empowerment, and Care Quality
The link between the relative lack of power and inadequate training of home care aides and the care they provide is explored in "Level of Empowerment and Health Knowledge of Home Support Workers Providing Care for Frail Elderly."
For the study, researchers C. Shanthi Johnson and Miriam Noel surveyed 64 home support workers (HSWs) in Nova Scotia. Their level of health knowledge and awareness of issues related to the elderly, such as prevention of falls and nutrition, were both low, while their empowerment levels were moderate. Empowerment was defined as access to resources, support, information, and opportunity, among other things.
The authors conclude that curricula for HSWs should be expanded to include more health topics and continuing education, and that strategies should be developed to further empower workers, as "empowerment is essential for job satisfaction, performance, and the retention of staff within any work setting."
The report was published in the August issue of Home Health Care Services Quarterly (Vol. 26 Issue 3). It is free to subscribers only; others must pay to download a copy.
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Informal Caregiving Experience Boosts Job Satisfaction in Dementia Care
Nursing assistants providing paid Alzheimer's care who are or once were the primary caregiver for a friend or relative with the disease have higher levels of intrinsic job satisfaction than those with no informal caregiving experience. However, they are less likely to stay on the job, according to data collected as part of a statewide dementia-specific training collaborative in Virginia.
As reported in "Job Satisfaction and Career Commitment Among Nursing Assistants Providing Alzheimer's Care," workers who had prior training in gerontology and geriatrics had lower levels of extrinsic job satisfaction and were less likely to stay on the job than those without this kind of continuing education.
Informal caregiving experience may "enhance intrinsic job satisfaction by increasing personal commitment to pursue formal care work and providing a kind of inoculation against the demoralization that is too often suffered in these very challenging jobs," the authors conclude.
The study was published in the August/September issue of American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (Volume 22, No. 4). It is free to subscribers only; others must pay to download a copy.
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Unionized Workers Earn Better Pay, Benefits
Unionized workers earn about 16 percent ($1.75 per hour) more than their non-union counterparts and are about 25 percentage points more likely to have health insurance or a pension plan, according to "Unions and Upward Mobility for Low-Wage Workers."
The report analyzes 15 of the lowest-paying occupations in the United States, including two types of direct-care workers (home care aides and nursing and home health aides).
It was published by The Center for Economic & Policy Research & Inclusion.
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Septemer 10-11, 2007
ANCOR 2007 Governmental Activities Seminar, Washington D.C.
September 30 - October 3, 2007
National Home and Community Based Services Conference, Albuquerque, NM
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