Page 17 - Healthcare News Mar/Apr 2022

Stretched Thin
Workforce Issues
work, but it’s the pay rate ... even before the pandemic, it was tough.
A lot of the aides had to work for two or three agencies to make ends meet, and they still were living in poverty even with 80 hours of work.”
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Davis made these remarks during a recent virtual event hosted by LifePath, a Greenfield-based provider of elder services, titled Aging Populations: Addressing the Workforce Crisis in Home- and Commu- nity-based Care. The event brought together aging experts, physicians, legislators, providers, consumers, and caregivers to discuss the lack of home-care workers in Western Mass., which has resulted in some older adults and people with disabilities not being able to get the care they need. Participants also discussed the need for improved support for family caregivers who are struggling to meet the needs of their loved ones.
“Clearly, there’s a staffing crisis that we are all talking about,” said Dr. Rachel Broudy, a geriatrician and medical director of Pioneer Val- ley Hospice and Palliative Care, noting that some people are on a six- month waiting list to get help in the home, when many times, hospice patients have a prognosis of six months or less.
“So it basically means that we’re not going to be able to provide the help they need. We’re not able to get people into long-term care when they need more care if they don’t have family around. We’re not able to get people into rehab for respite so the family can have a break or go out of town for a wedding. It’s very real, and it’s affecting people’s lives every day.”
The question, she added is, “how do we create the jobs that people want to stay in?”
Hamper Elder-
cEare Agencies
By JOSEPH BEDNAR
lizabeth Davis, a caregiver who is certified as a home health aide (HHA), says the ongoing shortage of workers in this field is directly related to the chal- lenges HHAs themselves have faced during the era of COVID-19.
“When the pandemic started, schools shut down ... so the caregivers had to stay at home and take care of their kids,” she said. In addition, “there are jobs that offer $15 to $18 an hour, where the home-care agencies haven’t gotten to that rate yet. Hopefully, they will soon so they can attract more aides. There are aides out there who want to
Sue Pratt, director of the Care Collaborative, suggested that one step should be an improvement in training standards.
“The direct-care workforce is dwindling,” she said, noting that it’s
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