Who Are Direct Care Workers?

Direct Care Workers provide between 70-80% of the paid hands on personal assistance for individuals with disabilities , chronic illness or the elderly. They are known by a variety of titles--nursing assistants, certified nursing assistants, home care aides, personal care aides, attendants. Regardless of title, direct care workers work with consumers to bathe, dress and eat along with other daily living tasks. Consumers rely on these workers to provide them with comfort, companionship and care in an atmosphere that preserves their dignity and well being in the setting they chose. DCWs work in private homes, assisted/personal care facilities, nursing homes, group homes, adult day facilities and hospitals. As a result, consumers consistently cite the quality of their relationship with their direct care workers as a primary determinant of the quality of life.

Nationwide and here in Schuylkill Countywe face a critical shortage of high-quality direct care workers who can meet the needs of our country's long term care consumers.

Turnover rates are often as high as 100%. Wages are low, benefits poor, the work physically demanding and sometimes emotionally draining.

As a result of the low wages, 19% of home care aides and 16% of nursing home aides are poor according to the 2000 census. Of all nursing home and home health aides who are single parents, 30-35% receive food stamps (hht://www/gao.gov/new.items/d01750t.pdf). In addition to low wages, more than half the direct care workforce works only part time--in large part due to the instability of work availability on a regular or prescheduled basis.

According to PHI, one out of every four nursing home workers and more than two out of five home care workers lack health insurance coverage. While two thirds of Americans under age 65 receive health coverage through an employer, only 48% of nursing home aides and 34% of home care aides have employer based coverage.

The number of home health aide positions is expected to grow by 56% making this the fastest grwoing field in America! Personal and home care aide positions are expected to inrease by more than 41%. Nurse aide, orderly and attendant positions are predicted to increase by 22%.

The Schuylkill County Direct Care Workers Association, Inc. is working with many other state and national organizations to address the issues facing this worker shortage and invite you to join us in our efforts. Our organization is working to improve the quality of workers by facilitating educational, networking and advocacy opportunities. Help us address the issues of respect, value and funding to ensure that a direct care worker will be there to help if you need it someday!