August 8, 2012
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Home Health Care Challenges
Demand for
workers soars
but pay is low
(AP) — For the past three years,
Taura Tate's mornings have revolved
around caring for a woman who suf
fers from the effects of a stroke and
diabetes. She cooks her oatmeal for
breakfast, helps with showers and
makes sure she takes the right medi
cine.
Without the help of a home health
aide, the woman, who's in her 70s,
would be in a nursing home instead
of living on her own.
But Tate has her own struggles.
Until a recent promotion, her pay
amounted to what she could make at
McDonald's. She doesn't get health
or retirement benefits and has worked
at five agencies, some sim ulta
neously, to guarantee she'll have
enough clients.
Demand for home health care work
ers is soaring as baby boomers — the
78 million Americans bom between
1946 and 1964— get older and states
try to save money by moving people
out of more costly nursing homes.
But filling more than 1 million new
home care positions over the next
decade will be a challenge.
Most home health aides are paid
about the same as maids and mani
curists and don't get sick days or
health insurance themselves. Many
who are self-employed must pay for
their own gas for driving to appoint
ments and cover their own medical
bills if they're hurt on the job.
The U.S. Labor D epartm ent
projects that home health and per
sonal care aides will be among the
fastest-growing jobs over the next
decade, adding 1.3 million positions
and increasing at a rate higher than
any other occupation. If those jobs
can't be filled, many older Americans
are likely to face living with relatives
or in nursing homes, which will only
cost families and taxpayers more
money.
Some aides say they have nochoice
but to say no when people call look
ing for help because they can't afford
to take on someone else.
Nearly half of all home care work
ers live at or below the poverty level,
and many receive government ben
efits such as food stamps, unions
and advocacy groups say. The me-
Taura Tate (left), a home care aide since 1999, folds laundry for
Crell Johnson, 76, at Johnson's apartment, in Euclid, Ohio. Tate
cooks Johnson's oatmeal for breakfast, helps her shower and
watches to make sure she takes the right medicine. (AP photo)
dian pay a year ago was $9.70 per
hour — 4 cents less than fast-food
workers and short-order cooks, ac-
cording to the most recent statistics
from the Labor Department,
Agencies that supply home health
workers blame states and the federal
government for failing to increase
reimbursement rates for Medicaid and
Medicare patients at a time when
costs are going up.
Home health services are an easy
target for cuts because they're not
required by federal law, and legisla
tors in states with big deficits say
they have no choice but to cut Med
icaid spending, the second-costliest
item for states behind education.
At the same time, some states,
including Ohio, are changing how
they coordinate medical care and try
ing to move some of the most expen
sive and hard-to-treat patients into
home and community-based settings
instead of nursing homes.
The result, home care agencies
say, is that there's little room for them
to make a profit. And that means they
can go only so far to attract new
workers.
MMMI
N EW S E A S O N S J
BS
M A R K E T
Sreenings to
Prevent Blindness
The Oregon Lions Club Sight
and Hearing Foundation is working
to combat preventative blindness
and deafness in the community.
Many community members lack
ing primary care are unaware they
have health conditions that threaten
their sight, jobs, quality of life and
potentially their lives.
The foundation is sponsoring
free health screenings this summer
with tests for visual acuity, hearing,
blood pressure, diabetes (with a 3
hour fast) and glaucoma.
Many of the screenings have
already been held in the Portland
area, but there are still two upcom
ing opportunities in which you can
participate:
Aug. 18 -- Asian Health and Service
Center, 3430 S.E. Powell Blvd. 11
a.m.to 4 p.m. (Vision and hearing
screenings only.)
Aug. 25 -- St. John's Health Fair,
Kenton Park, 8417 N Brandon Ave.,
11 a.m .to 4 p.m.
For additional information, visit
olshf.org
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