March 30 Web Event
Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role - and Tenuous Circumstances - of Home
Care Workers During the Pandemic
Even
as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older
adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to
work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks
to themselves and their own families.
KFF’s Kaiser Health News
and The John A. Hartford Foundation will be holding an interactive
web event at
Noon Eastern time on Tuesday, March 30 to examine
the crucial roles home care workers have played for families during the
pandemic as well as the challenging economics of the industry for
providers and consumers alike.
Obtaining coverage for home care services under Medicaid and Medicare is
complex and limited, and long-term care insurance, when purchased, only
partly offsets the cost. Home care workers, who are overwhelmingly women
from communities of color, often make low wages with few or no benefits
and have high turnover rates. The pandemic exposed home care workers and
the people they care for to new risks that have exacerbated the challenge
in matching care providers and recipients.
During
the presidential campaign, President Biden proposed a $775 billion
program to support caregiving, with more than half of that for senior
care. The event will include a discussion of what such a plan might
address and other potential policy solutions.
KHN
Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth
Rosenthal will serve as moderator of the event,
intended to be an intimate conversation about the role of home health
during the COVID-19 crisis. Rosenthal draws on personal experience: Her
mother, Elaine, who died last year at age 96 of suspected Covid-19, spent
the final months of her life in an assisted living community, where she
was cared for by workers from Senior Helpers, a provider of in-home care.
Rani Snyder, Vice President, Program at The John A. Hartford Foundation
will make introductory remarks.
Panelists will include:
- Joanne Taylor, Owner, Senior Helpers
Westchester (NY). Taylor began her career in home care after
juggling the roles of caregiver, advocate and loved one for her own
family members.
- Clare McHugh, a Novelist and home
health care client in Baltimore whose mother suffers from advanced
dementia.
- Karen Gilmore, a Home Care Worker for
Ms. McHugh’s mother.
- Robert Espinoza, Vice President of
Policy at PHI, a New York-based nonprofit group that studies and
implements ways to improve eldercare and disability services both
for those who receive care and those who provide it.
KHN
KHN (Kaiser
Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism
about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is
one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser
Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing
information on health issues to the nation. KHN receives grant funding
from The John A. Hartford Foundation, among other sources, and retains
full editorial control over its journalism.
The John A. Hartford Foundation
The John A.
Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private,
nonpartisan, national philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of
older adults. The leader in the field of aging and health, the Foundation
has three areas of emphasis: creating age-friendly health systems,
supporting family caregivers, and improving serious illness and
end-of-life care.
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