Worker Education and Empowerment
Affiliated with three worker-owned cooperatives, PHI has been a leader in supporting worker participation and empowerment in long-term care. In addition to providing workers with the education and support they need to participate in governance of their agencies, PHI builds leadership and advocacy skills to promote direct participation of workers in the policy arena.
The Paraprofessional Assembly
Every 18 months, PHI brings together direct-care workers from its affiliated agencies and training programs for an annual conference that focuses on leadership development. Direct-care workers participate in a variety of hands-on workshops that deepen their understanding of how public policies shape their work lives and build their capacity as advocates. At the May 2003 conference, participants learned to tell their personal stories in a workshop designed by the Ariel Group and then took those stories to Capitol Hill where they met with their local representatives.
Policy Action Groups
At each of PHI's affiliated agencies, direct-care workers have formed policy action groups. These groups educate their members about public policy issues and take actions to improve the quality of direct-care jobs in their region or state. Last May, Cooperative Home Care Associates held a "Walk in My Shoes" event, in which local officials were invited to spend the day with a home health aide, visiting clients. Through this event, the group established a strong working relationship with a local official. CHCA's PAG has also run voter registration drives and visited representatives in Albany to discuss issues such as wages and benefits for home care workers.
HeartWork: Celebrating the lives and work of direct-care workers
In 2000, PHI staff worked with home health aides and nursing assistants at HomeCare Associates in Philadelphia to create a performance piece from their own life stories. This celebrated production, most recently performed at the 2003 Pioneer Conference to standing ovations, has been made into a compelling videotape in which the aide/performers also talk about the meaning of caregiving in their lives.
Home health aides and nursing assistants around the country have thanked PHI for bringing their stories to the big screen. HeartWork is a powerful tool for beginning discussions about the value of caregiving, how direct-care workers are treated in the workplace and by society in general, and how to reorganize the workplace around the consumer/caregiver relationship.
