Home Health Workers: Quality Eldercare Care and Quality Jobs go Hand in Hand

There is a steadily increasing demand for home-based services that allow older adults and people with disabilities to age in place and maintain dignity and independence.

In the US today, about 2 million home care aides assist 11 million older adults and people with disabilities. Home care occupations are expected to grow by nearly 50 percent by 2022, a rate nearly five times higher than the rate of overall job growth in the economy.

As the aging population increases and the number of direct care workers expands, so does the need to ensure that consumers receive high quality care.

But how can we expect quality care if workers in this sector receive minimal training, earn poverty-level wages, work unsteady hours, and must depend on public assistance to make ends meet?

During this panel discussion we will hear about the issues and solutions from the nation’s leading authority on the direct-care workforce, the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI). PHI promotes quality direct-care jobs as the foundation for quality care. We will also hear from the Public Justice Center, which is currently working to understand the scope of the quality care/ quality jobs crisis in Baltimore from the perspective of workers.

Speakers will include:

• Jodi Sturgeon, President, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute; and
• David Rodwin, Workplace Justice Fellow, Public Justice Center.

This program is co-sponsored by the Maryland Philanthropy Network Affinity Group on Aging and the Maryland Philanthropy Network Workforce Affinity Group for Maryland Philanthropy Network members and invited guests only. Lunch will be served.