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Findings from Homecare Aide Workforce Initiative to Be Released

February 18, 2015

— HAWI Employment and Training Initiative Aims to Improve Home Care for Older Adults —

Our nation's population is aging and most older adults who need long-term services and supports prefer to receive them in their homes and communities. To meet the rapidly increasing demand for quality home care, we will need an adequate, stable, and well-trained workforce. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that we will need another 1 million home care workers over the decade 2012-2022. In New York City alone, it is anticipated that 76,000 more home care aides will be needed, up 48 percent from the number of aides employed in the city today.

WHAT:

Findings will be released from an evaluation of the Homecare Aide Workforce Initiative (HAWI), a program designed to improve the quality of training and employment for home health aides as a strategy for improving home care quality for older adults. A large, multi-year, foundation-funded initiative, HAWI was launched amid sweeping changes to New York State's long-term care program to improve the skills, job satisfaction, and retention of the entry-level home health aide workforce. The program was implemented in 2013 at three licensed home care agencies in New York City serving thousands of older adults. The evaluation, lessons learned, and policy and practical implications will be discussed.

WHEN: 

Friday, February 20, 2015

8:30 – 11:30 a.m.

WHERE:

UJA-Federation of New York

Seventh-Floor Conference Center

130 East 59th Street

New York City

WHO:

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

  • Marci Hunn, Program Director, Workforce Development
  • Michael Marcus, Program Director, Older Adults

UJA-Federation of New York

  • Alexandra Roth-Kahn, L.M.S.W., Managing Director, Caring Commission

PHI (Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute)

  • Jodi M. Sturgeon, President
  • Peggy Powell, National Director, Workforce & Curriculum Development
  • Carol Rodat, Director, New York Policy

Center for Home Care Policy & Research, Visiting Nurse Service of New York

  • Penny Hollander Feldman, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Director Emeritus
  • Miriam Ryvicker, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist 

Participating UJA-Federation Agencies

Best Choice Home Health Care, a member of the CenterLight Health System

  • Amy Leshner Thomas, Vice President, Home Care
  • Zena McKenzie, Assistant Trainer

Jewish Home Lifecare

  • Bridget Gallagher, G.N.P., M.S.N., Senior Vice President, Community Services
  • Athena Lu Kreiser, Director, Strategic Planning, Community Services

Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.

  • Natasha Gooden-Williams, R.N., Director of Training

Lead funding for the Homecare Aide Workforce Initiative was provided by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and UJA-Federation of New York. This event is hosted by UJA-Federation of New York's Roundtable on Aging in the Jewish Community.

–- end -–

PHI, the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute, works to transform eldercare and disability services, fostering dignity, respect, and independence — for all who receive care, and all who provide it. The nation's leading authority on the direct-care workforce, PHI promotes quality direct-care jobs as the foundation for quality care.

Deane Beebe, PHI Media Relations Director

646-285-1039; dbeebe@phinational.org

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