Earlier this year, a report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality noted that home health agencies can play a critical role in responding to a potential flu pandemic. The article even points out the role that workers have in addressing such a crisis and how challenges with recruitment and retention can impact an agency’s ability to respond. Continue reading ‘Where Do Workers Turn In Flu Season?’
Monthly Archive for October, 2008
I have worked in long-term care for 15 years as a nurse aide, RN Supervisor and currently as a Nursing Training and Education Coordinator. In my current position, obtaining and retaining nurse aids as employees is my biggest challenge. Continue reading ‘Increasing Medicaid Reimbursement Rates Can Lead to Health Care Coverage’
I have been a RN supervisor at a long term care facility for which I have worked for 17 years. I am currently taking classes for RN to MSN with the hopes of finally reaching my goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. I have watched many changes over the last 17 years in the healthcare field; some good and unfortunately some bad. Continue reading ‘We Need More Angels in Disguise’
I lost my health insurance when I decided to enter my current position as a home-health aide. I have been working in the home-health field for about two years now, yet I do not have any health coverage for myself. Unfortunately in this line of work, my wages are low and it is not possible to afford private coverage. I knew I was taking a chance but there are so many elders and disabled out there who need assistance. Continue reading ‘Leaving a Job I Love Because I Need Health Coverage’
Since I started with the Health Care for Health Care Workers Campaign a little over a year ago, it has become apparent that it is the stories, letters, and advocacy efforts of direct-care workers that ultimately resonate with policy makers as well as the public.
The article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Karen Goroncy and her lack of health insurance highlighted how it impacts her ability to care for her consumer. Melva William’s letter to the editor in response to Karen’s story voices her own fears about getting sick and not being able to continue to take care of her ailing mother due to her own lack of health insurance. It is these stories that provide a face for the HCHCW Campaign mission.
It is the passion that workers have about improving wages, benefits, and overall perception of their work and the industry that make a difference in our campaign. If it had not been for one hundred workers across the state who called their legislators back in March demanding that health care be made affordable and accessible, the health insurance reform legislation “PA ABC” may never have passed the House with such success. Next session, we’ll need that same passion to try and get an affordable health insurance plan passed by both Houses.
In order to continue these efforts, I am looking to meet direct-care workers who are willing to share their personal stories regarding health insurance, participate in “come care with me days” where they invite a policy maker to their place of work, and ultimately form a committee of workers from across the state who will work together to advocate for affordable and accessible health insurance the direct-care workforce.
In the next few months, I will be traveling to different nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health agencies, and the homes of direct-care workers to hold a series of brown bag lunches and small gatherings to talk with workers about the campaign and the variety of activities listed above. With the help of members from the Direct Care Worker Association, I have already scheduled several meetings and brown bag lunches for the fall, as well as collected several new stories to add to the campaign’s story bank.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact me, Simone Baer, at (412) 450-8080 or by email at sbaer@phinational.org. I’d love to talk with you about joining us in these activities and how your story can make a difference.
Simone Baer
PA Community Organizer
sbaer@phinational.org
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