PROVIDENCE – The desire to stay in your home as you age is a given for most, but law and policy don’t support that decision as well as it might, a discrepancy the Rhode Island Campaign for Home Care Independence and Choice aims to correct.
The Rhode Island Campaign for Home Independence and Choice includes: Senior Agenda Consortium, Rhode Island Working Families Party, Rhode Island Organizing Project, District 1199 SEIU New England, Rhode Island AFL-CIO, Economic Progress Institute and the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization of Women.
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The campaign was launched earlier this month by a group of senior advocates, legislators, home care workers and concerned citizens with a mission to provide seniors and individuals living with physical disabilities more options when determining their long-term care setting. The group began with its support of passing legislation in 2018, introduced in the House and Senate via bills H-7803 and S-2734, sponsored by Rep. Chris Blazejewski, D-Providence, and Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence.
The legislation would create an Independent Provider program option, a home care model that has been successful in several other states including Massachusetts. If passed, it would provide more options for home-based long-term care services, enhance access to them and establish standards to assure high quality.
“We know that nearly all seniors, even those living with chronic illnesses or disabilities, have a strong desire to age in their own homes,” said Bill Flynn, executive director of the Senior Agenda Coalition. “Creating an independent provider program in Rhode Island will provide a new and proven option for seniors needing home care. It will give seniors the power to hire their own caregivers, and we believe it will improve quality of their care because they will have more control.”
Rhode Island lags behind several states with Independent Provider models in terms of providing access to consistent high-quality home care, he said.
“Presently, Rhode Island ranks 42nd in the nation in terms of investment in home care. Ninety percent of older Americans prefer home care. Not only is it more comfortable for seniors, it’s more cost-effective, as we’ve seen in states [such as] Massachusetts,” said Goodwin. “High-quality home care is what people want, and it saves money. We’re proud to support this effort to help make excellent home care available to more Rhode Islanders.”
“There is little question that people prefer to stay in their homes as long as possible. Particularly now, as the over-65 population in our state is rapidly expanding, Rhode Island must shift more of our long-term care resources toward supporting home care. Our legislation will help provide more options for home-based services, enhance access to them and establish standards that assure high-quality care,” said Blazejewski.
Most home care workers in Rhode Island earn between $11 [and] $12.50 per hour.
Satta Jangaba, a caregiver from Providence, said, “I worked with my home care client for years and we became like family. I moved on to a nursing home so I can make a better living, but I worry all the time about my client. Now that I’m not there, she has been passed around to several different [certified nursing assistants] – the agency constantly changes their schedules and my client is left without any care. I wish I could go back to being her provider, but there’s no way I could afford to live on the $10.50 an hour they paid.”
The bills’ new model for choosing long-term care is more effective, said Georgia Hollister Isman, state director for the Rhode Island Working Families Party. The model has been used in Massachusetts and Connecticut, which have more balanced long-term care systems, she said.
“The model is more efficient and once implemented, we expect wages to go up for caregivers just like they did in neighboring states. This will take a few years, but seniors will be better served by a stabilized better-compensated workforce,” she said.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
