Event Date: July 26, 2022
The long-term care sector is facing a crisis in the supply of direct care workers, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased need and demand for services in the home is fueling a workforce shortage, which is having a direct effect on the ability of those in need to access services and for organizations to deliver needed care and support. There is a need to think differently about the compensation, skills development, mobility and value placed on this workforce which provides critical services to a diverse and complex population. Addressing direct care workforce shortages across the nation requires partnership across multiple stakeholders. This interactive panel discussion focused on potential solutions to direct care workforce shortages, including promising practices and areas for stakeholder collaboration.
Additional Resources:
- America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis: Effects on People with Intellectual Disabilities, Families, Communities and the U.S. Economy (President’s Council for People with Intellectual Disabilities, 2017)
- Caring for the Future: The Power and Potential of America’s Direct Care Workforce (PHI, 2021)
- Feeling Valued Because They Are Valued: A Vision for Professionalizing the Caregiving Workforce in the Field of Long-Term Services and Supports (LeadingAge, 2021)
- National Core Indicators Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 2020 Staff Stability Survey Report (National Core Indicators, 2022)
- Further information about the Nurse LEAD Training Program and the Geriatric Career Development Program for high school students