COA 9-27-19 Handout. Shortage of Care Workers

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It's easy to see why annual turnover rates at home care agencies are around 60%. Gurgone and her colleague Hayley Gleason at the Home Aide Care Council presented this telling statistic at the Aging in America conference: Home care agencies in Massachusetts hire 18 people every three months, on average, but they lose 15 workers over the same time period. "My reaction was: `You've got to be kidding me,"' Gurgone said in an interview. Why Things Could Get Even Worse And yet the job market for home care workers may well deteriorate even more. One reason: The Trump administration's plans to restrict legal immigration to the United States. About one -in -four workers at nursing homes, assisted living facilities an home care agencies are immigrants, according to PHI, the Bronx -based advocate for tb direct care workforce. Another: local independent home care agencies are closing up as their owners retire. ICA Group researchers say that recently, for every agency with 20 to loo employees in business at least 25 years that has been sold, nine closed their doors. Sobering trends, no? Small Initiatives That Could Help But industry reforms are beginning to bubble up. For example, in Massachusetts, the Hoene Aide Care Council is piloting a two-week, pr( training program to expose newcomers to what home care work is like. Says Gleason: "We want to make sure people feel ready before starting their formal home care training." The ICA Group is taking a different tack. It's working to expand the number of home care cooperatives beyond the current io nationwide. Co-ops are owned and controlled by home -care workers; members get more training opportunities, steadier work schedules and better benefits than normal. ICA is also reaching out to retiring home ca agency owners to see if they're interested in selling the businesses to their employees.