State association launches support program for home, hospice, personal care workers | Local | journalgazette.net

Oct 16, 2024

Managing Editor

Scully

Herber

A statewide association for home and hospice care professionals is launching a support program today with features including training and one-on-one counseling to help with workforce retention.

The CARE (Creating Action and Resources for Employees) Connect program is billed as the first of its kind in the U.S., a news release said.

A recent report released by MissionCare Collective indicates that caregivers are three times more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, and 21% of caregivers nationwide self-report poor mental health. And 55% of those workers receive some form of federal or state assistance, the Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care said in a news release announcing the new support program.

MissionCare Collective is an organization that supports caregivers so older adults and people with disabilities get access to quality care.

“As we have seen pre- and post-COVID, direct caregivers disproportionately experience hardships of many kinds outside of their professional roles,” said Evan Reinhardt, executive director of the state association for home and hospice workers.

In Indiana, 34% of caregivers are in a low-income household, earning an average wage of $14.78 an hour, and turnover is high, the release said.

“We know this essential workforce is more likely to suffer from health challenges, financial hardships, as well as difficulty accessing quality child care and transportation resources,” Reinhardt said in a statement.

“This program will help address those challenges by connecting each caregiver directly to a consultant that will provide local, individually tailored supports to the caregivers and meet them where they are.”

Tim Scully, director of Workforce Development in Indiana, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that $1.1 million has been allocated to support the new CARE program through the end of 2025. Additional grants are being sought for its extension.

The state Association for Home and Hospice Care represents about 530 member agencies and nearly 5,000 professionals, he said.

A soft launch of CARE this summer was rolled out in 15 southeast Indiana counties. It was also available to 50% of agencies in Marion County that are part of the Association for Home and Hospice Care. Over about a six-week period, Scully said 37 individuals sought support assistance of some kind.

All but six had a return appointment, he said, “so we know there’s a need for ongoing support.”

With the full launch, eligible employees will gain access to various resources – local, county and state – through a one-on-one meeting with their assigned consultant.

Focus areas for assistance include housing, legal aid, utility assistance and more, a news release said. Along with helping those in home and hospice care, it will support those in personal services industries.

Mary Shankster, chief development officer for Stillwater Hospice, said the organization’s team of professionals are crucial to the service it provides.

“We are continuing to look for ways to better support our team members through various means, including access to counseling, educational opportunities and preventive health care for themselves and their families,” Shankster said in an emailed statement.

“This coming year, we will also be adding financial assistance for their dependent-aged children to our list of team member benefits,” she said, adding that Stillwater Hospice looks forward to seeing how the new CARE program can be an additional layer of support to the benefits the nonprofit already offers.

A Huntington resident who has worked in Fort Wayne and multiple counties providing hospice service will be part of the new state initiative.

Kellie Herber is one of seven regionally based consultants who will help home and hospice care workers navigate challenges. She is one who will work full-time in the role.

Herber said the job “was just like the perfect step up” to use her experience as a hospice care provider to patients and supporting families and in the administrative and support roles she has enjoyed. Herber will be the consultant for 21 counties as far north as LaGrange and Steuben and as far south as Franklin.

“I think this is just going to add a whole another level of impact,” Herber said of the new program. “We’ve seen such an increase of anxiety since COVID. I think there’s just going to be a huge impact, and I’m so excited to be part of this.”

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Scully

Herber

Managing Editor