My Research Paper

Stacey Shawver

Professor Nyland

English 101 Sec. 75A

April 12, 2015

Keep Direct Care Workers Above Minimum Wage

Direct Care is a field of work that is quickly growing and in need of workers. Direct care became vital to the industry in the 1980’s after the decision to de-institutionalize individuals with disabilities. There are about eighteen thousand workers that provide care for about twenty- five thousand individuals with disabilities. Direct care workers are highly trained personnel that provide care for any aged individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities or a chronic illness and need their assistance. Workers can go by many different titles including day support specialist, community living assistant, personal care aides, nursing assistant, and more. Workers also can work in different settings including a personal home, day program, nursing home, and more. Duties of employees include but are not limited to personal hygiene assistance, money managing, personal companion, household managing, and medicating. Direct care workers provide special care for individuals because they are compassionate people looking for a bigger outcome of the work they provide.  Many individuals rely on their care takers every day, so much they are vital to each and every community.

As it currently stands workers make an average of ten dollars an hour, which is an average of thirty-five percent above minimum wage. In just the year 2006, direct care made an average of seventy percent above minimum wage, a margin that has declined dramatically. With minimum wage rising to $10.10 by the year 2018 direct care workers are left wondering if they will become an entry level position. The current and previous governors of Maryland threw two budget cuts at funding for the direct care field. The first cut was of 3.5 percent and the second cut took funding down another1.75 percent. After some rallying from advocates, the governor proposed a two percent raise, even if passed by senate and house it will still leave workers under a proposed higher than minimum wage rate. Direct care employees should continue to be compensated at a higher rate than minimum wage, as minimum wage rises. Continuing higher compensation is critical because of the thorough training workers endure, the less than adequate working environment, and the quality of care provided could decline without proper funding.

 After the hiring process, the training begins. All direct care staff must be cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid certified, but this training is one that must be renewed every two years. Becoming a certified medication technician is not required for all direct care staff, but if taken it is a four day, twenty hour, training that teaches you how to properly medicate individuals. This class is taught by registered nurses and you are held to a legal standard when documenting and administering medication. After the first initial twenty hour training you are required to meet with your delegated nurse every six months to continue to show that you can properly administer medication and you are required to renew your certification every two years. If you let your certification expire you are required to take the class all over again. Having this training alone is worth keeping direct care above minimum wage. Also direct care workers are required to take a training called behavior, principals, and practices (BPS). The training helps you prepare for when an individual may cause harm to either you or themselves. It is a physical training that teaches you different techniques to protect yourself. For example, they teach you how to correctly stop an individual from biting you. It is a two day, twelve hour long class. This training is required to be updated yearly. If you miss your updated training you must take the whole twelve hour course over. Some of the other trainings are characteristic and needs, incident reporting, aging, choking and dysphagia, drivers training, and individual plan (IP) planning. Training is by no means limited to just these. Training for direct care staff is not limited to actual classroom settings.          

            Direct care includes on the job training as well. Every day is a learning experience, one day you may find yourself in a menacing situation. For example, you may find yourself with an individual that needs help with toileting. While toileting is something we ourselves learn at a young age, it can be difficult to help another adult with it, and is most definitely an “on the job” learning experience. Learning different skills is required, but there are some qualities you need to possess before even beginning to think about a career in direct care. One of the qualities is patience. Patience is required because some the individuals served need someone who will not get upset with them quickly. Another quality needed is self-responsibility. One of the responsibilities of direct care staff is to properly document everything. Precise documenting is detrimental because it allows the state to know that things are getting done accurately. This is important because at any point in time the state can come and look at all your documents. Having everything done correctly can save the agency from consequences and even fines. Honesty and integrity are very important as well. Don Rowe, the executive director, of The Arc Carroll county explains why “Often times you may be working without some sort of direct supervision or unsupervised by a supervisor and then just the kinds of decisions you may have to make day in and day out”(Rowe). Upon the moment that application is submitted get ready for some vital training.

            As workers endure thorough training, they also may endure a less than adequate work environment. With majority of workers being employed by non-profit they rely on funding from the government.  Relying on the government for money is not always the best thing. The government gives just enough money to keep an agency afloat. Often, that means that the building environment is not the best. Most agencies are given money to pay their employees at a rate just slightly above minimum wage. That means it is up to the agency to subsidize the pay rate for their employees, leaving little to no money for building renovations or up keep. Take the Arc Carroll County for instance, they are in a building built in 1986 and are in desperate need of renovations. The heating and cooling unit does not keep warm in the winter and does not keep cool in the summer. Not only do they have the day program building in Westminster, but they own nine homes that house two to three individuals each. In most cases non-profits look to their community for fundraising dollars. The Arc Carroll County has looked to the community for help in raising the 3.5 million dollars needed for the renovations.  Having to work in a rundown building, is just not fair for all that direct care staff does and it is not fair to the individuals served. Once, you get past the falling apart building, there are other factors that can make the environment less than adequate.

Climate can also make the work environment less than satisfactory.  Climate meaning different things that can change the way you feel. If the weather is rainy and gloomy, it puts you in the same mood. If the climate at work is hostile it can put you on the defense. Direct care staff put themselves in a different climate every day, sometimes it can change hourly. I say this because it all depends on the mood of the individual you are serving is in. One minute they can be in the greatest of moods and then all of a sudden, they can be yelling at you for something you have no control over. Staff can also control the climate. When you are working with someone that shows the traits mentioned before it makes for a much better working environment. Penny Huddleston, author of  “Healthy Work Environment Framework within a Acute Care Setting” says “Structural empowerment and psychological empowerment result in autonomy, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and, organizational commitment of the nurse while the outcomes relate to patient, nurse, and organization” (Huddleston 52). Keeping workers above an entry level is a necessity to keeping them at a boundless working environment.

            When you take on the job of a direct care worker you are required to be the voice of many people. It is your job to advocate for those that do not know how, or simply cannot by themselves. This is can be from something simple as to what they eat every day or a major medical decision. Most of the individuals in care of an agency were placed there by families. Most families want the best care possible and a decision like this cannot be taken lightly. When choosing an agency, most will look for the qualities of a pronounced direct care worker and the actual building where the services will be provided.  Direct care staff takes self-importance in knowing that the family chose their agency to take care of their loved one. The Arc Carroll county published the following “Chronic underfunding of DD[developmental disability] supports and services has made it increasingly difficult for community providers to meet the needs of the 25,000 people they support, especially those with more intensive needs” (Arc Carroll County). They also comment on the understaffing that the field is already experiencing even with being paid above minimum wage “The 8,000 people on DDA’s [Developmental Disabilities Administration] Waiting List, and the over 600 Transitioning Youth each year, need strong providers to help them live and work in the community” (Arc Carroll County). That’s not saying that everyone in the field will slack off, but it is saying that the very little pool of quality staff we have could diminish, as it has already started to do.

            The level of quality expected is both mental and psychical. Direct care is not just about helping with toileting or making sure the individual does not harm themselves, it is about making sure that they have a friend. They need someone who they can be comfortable with, someone they can socialize with. Some of the individuals served do not have any family left. Workers are all they have and it takes a special person with the right mental skills to recognize and fulfill that need. A physically demanding aspect can be working with a high level energetic individual. You must be able to meet their demands, keeping up with them.  Also, that means workers need to be able to assist individuals getting in and out of bed, or the car, or even help them out of their wheelchair and on the toilet. There are lots of reasons, direct care staff are demanded to provide such a high level of care. So often, direct care workers are not compensated for the work they do monetarily, but in the satisfaction they receive from the rewarding relationships with those they serve. Although it is self-fulfilling to create and nurture those relationships, it is a hardship to pay the bills with the little money made. Direct care workers seem to give their best the first year or so, then after they have struggled with money for so long the job becomes very hard on them. The Baltimore Sun says the following about the burnout rate, “The burnout rate is high as it is; The ARC Baltimore estimates its turnover among community-living caregivers is 35 percent a year. If these workers could make the same salary flipping burgers or bagging groceries, many probably would” (Baltimore Sun). If workers fail to be compensated higher than minimum wage, the stress could continue. The Baltimore Sun also writes:

Once those with lower skills and less demanding jobs are making the same amount as people who were previously making a bit above the minimum wage, employers will have little choice but to increase salaries more generally if they want to maintain a high-quality workforce. In fact, that ripple effect is one of the most salient benefits of a minimum-wage increase (Baltimore Sun).

The individuals served everyday deserve someone who loves their job and can continue to love it.

As direct care workers advocate to staying above minimum wage, there are a lot of people behind them backing the things they fight for. It can be said that we simply do not have the money to do so, that money is needed to support other things like schools, roads, and government wages. This is true, there is always money needed for those things, yet there is a way to find the money for funding of the direct care field. Senator Middleton is a huge advocate for the direct care field. The Maryland Minimum Wage Act of 2014 mandated a 3.5 percent increase for the direct care field, this keeping the workers compensated at thirty- five percent higher than minimum wage. Middleton is the one who achieved the victory of the mandated increase, yet there is always a loop hole. At this point, workers are left waiting to see if the increase will happen. Even if the current government office finds and uses those loop holes, there is The Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA). This is an act that allows the altercation of the distribution of specified revenue, meaning it allows the proposed fiscal year budget to be revised upon the needs of certain specialized subjects. Therefore, the money to keep direct care at higher pay rate can be found and moved from other areas of the proposed budget. The Arc Carroll County tells us where the money can come from “Please restore the full 3.5% rate increase for DDA community services as mandated in the Maryland Minimum Wage Act of 2014.  The General Assembly can amend the BRFA and restore the full 3.5% rate increase with approximately $9 million in General Funds”  (Arc Carroll County).  Moving the funds and keeping the proposed raise for funding can and should be done. The workers deserve it; it is just the right thing to do.

Direct care workers are to be considered anything but a minimum wage or a “low skilled” occupation. Keeping workers compensated at a rate higher than minimum is crucial. They put themselves through absence amounts of training in order to complete their jobs at high quality level. They must also carry certain traits in order to even be considered for employment. Workers also deal with less than adequate working environments both psychically and mentally. They deal every day with the fact that being paid at minimum wage will not be worth all the effort they put forth and could let the quality of their work decline. Gaventa, a pastoral educator,  puts in to easily understood words “What our systems of care so frequently do not have is the opportunity to reflect on those dimensions of caregiving … a new form of caregiving community which looks, nurtures and draws on the why’s of relationship and commitment” (Gaventa 605). This quote allows reflection from the community and the direct care workers.

 Here is what needs to be done, start following your local government. Follow a local direct care agency and when they post an action alert send a letter to your local government. Help your local direct care workers advocate for keeping their wages above minimum because of the work they do for the individuals and the things they put themselves through every day, to make sure the ones they take care of are living lives that have purpose and meaning. Direct care workers are caring, passionate, and big hearted individuals that deserve to be compensated at a higher rate than minimum. Their job is important to the community and most important to the admirable individuals they serve. Your local direct care workers deserve and need to be noticed as anything but minimum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

"Action Alert DDA Budget." The Arc Carroll County. N.p., 2 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.arccarroll.org>.

"Fairness for Caregivers." Editorial. Baltimore Sun 21 Mar. 2014, Editorial: n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Gaventa, W.C. "Rekindling Commitment: Reflections from a Pastoral Educator Enmeshed in Direct Support Professional Workforce Development and Person Centered Supports." Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 52.7 (2008): 598-607. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Apr. 2015.

Huddleston, Penny. "Healthy Work Environment Framework within a Acute Care Setting." Journal of Theory Construction & Testing 18.2 (2014): 50-54. CINAHL Complete. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Rowe, Don. Personal interview. 20 Apr. 2015.