Let’s build the workforce we need to make sure all of us remain safe and healthy.
Are health care workers—and direct care workers in particular—getting adequate support to care for themselves and at-risk elders during the coronavirus pandemic? Robert Espinoza, vice president of policy at PHI, suggests 6 issues to consider as we strengthen the national response to coronavirus:
1. The Frontline Response: We need to prioritize the interventions and the frontline caregivers reaching the groups at highest risk for contracting coronavirus: older people, and people with chronic conditions.
2. Weak Training Standards: Infection control is a standard training topic for home health aides and nursing assistants, but training for personal care aides is “governed by a patchwork of state-level training requirements that are thin, insufficient, and inconsistent across and within states,” writes Espinoza.
3. Limited Paid Leave: PHI research shows that only 35% of direct care workers who took time off for family care or medical reasons between 2012 to 2017 were able to take paid leave. “The limited safety net for all low-wage workers threatens our health and our economic security,” writes Espinoza.
4. Social Distancing Won’t Work: Direct care workers provide support in person and care for many clients each day. These workers can’t protect themselves by practicing social distancing.
5. High Turnover, Limited Replacements: What happens when direct care workers become ill and have no other option but to take time off without pay? Who will replace them? “Across the country, long-term care employers are already struggling to recruit and retain enough direct care workers to meet demand,” writes Espinoza.
6. The Need For Improved Job Quality: “Direct care workers deserve a large-scale transformation that improves their abilities to respond effectively to an outbreak of this scale,” writes Espinoza. Higher compensation, stronger training standards, advanced roles, paid leave, and health insurance are a good place to start, he says.
“Leadership requires remaining steady yet bold through an uncertain moment,” concludes Espinoza. “It requires visionary change and new approaches that replace the ones that no longer work. Let’s build the workforce we need to make sure all of us remain safe and healthy for years to come.”