Working Together Campaign
Working Together Campaign |
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Working Together Campaign
The most pervasive problem in community care, experts
say, - April 10, 2001, New York Times |
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Today's New York Times, the nation's newpaper of record, has recognized that, "The most pervasive problem in community care...is finding skilled and caring workers." This national attention further validates the hard work PAR members are doing at the grassroots level to improve quality in community services and supports. Some of your legislators may not fully realize that the recruitment and retention of quality direct care staff for community MH and MR programs is a national issue. Call on your legislators now to make Pennsylvania a leader in providing quality services to individuals with intellectual disabilities! Write to them now - even if you have written to them before. Please also write to Governor Ridge. Let him know that you care about quality. Remind your legislators and the Governor that the key to quality services is qualified direct care staff. Here are highlight's from this morning's article entitled, "Painful Steps in the Evolution of the Group Home." ...The most pervasive problem in community care, experts say, is finding and keeping skilled and caring workers. The big institutions of years past were state operations that offered more supervision and better pay for staff members, with benefits. Private organizations typically run the group homes, with workers getting half the pay of state employees and few, if any, benefits. The staff members find themselves working alone doing difficult tasks with vulnerable people who often cannot speak and who sometimes behave violently. Nationally, the annual turnover among staff members in group homes typically from 45 to 70 percent... |
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