Who are Direct Care Workers?
Direct care workers are the frontline support system for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Direct care workers are known by a variety of titles, such as personal care aides, home health aides, nursing assistants, and direct support professionals (PHI, 2018). The supports and services direct care workers provide are innumerable, but may include assistance with daily activities such as dressing, eating, and bathing, assistance with housekeeping, meal preparation, and medication management, or performing clinical tasks such as therapeutic exercises and blood pressure readings (“Coalition for a DSP Living Wage,” n.d.).
Image Description: A woman and her direct care worker are bowling. The direct care worker has his arm around the woman as she holds a bowling ball. They are laughing and smiling.
Taken from: https://www.theydeservemore.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TDM-Flyer-8.5-x-11-1.pdf
The Status of Direct Care Work in Illinois
In Illinois approximately 81,000 direct care workers are providing both in-home and community-based services to individuals with disabilities and older adults. Direct care work is also the fastest growing job sector in Illinois, with approximately 17,900 new positions projected from 2014 to 2024 (PHI, 2018).
Despite the need for additional workers to provide long-term supports and services, direct care workers continue to face low wages that have largely stagnated for over a decade. Direct care workers in Illinois have a median hourly wage of $10.59 per hour, and approximately 26% of direct care workers in Illinois are living below 100% of the federal poverty level (PHI, 2018). The low wages in Illinois have also resulted in high turnover and vacancy rates, leaving individuals with disabilities without the support they rely on to carry out the daily tasks of living.
What Can Be Done?
Low Medicaid reimbursement rates are the catalyst of the direct care workforce crisis in Illinois. Community agencies that employ direct care workers and provide long-term supports and services are funded through Medicaid and can therefore only raise wages if Medicaid reimbursement rates established by the state increase as well. You can advocate for an increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates to support direct care workers by following the steps below:
● Find your elected officials and their contact information here: https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/DistrictLocator/AddressFinder.aspx
● Decide how you would like to contact your elected officials. Here are some helpful guidelines: https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/icdd/Advocacy/Pages/Communicating-with-Legislators.aspx
● Ask your elected officials to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for the agencies that provide long-term supports and services to individuals with disabilities. Here is a fact sheet to refer to: https://www.theydeservemore.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/TDM-Fact-Sheet-and-By-The-Numbers-2020-FINAL.pdf
● Keep up with the news surrounding the direct care workforce crisis. Here’s one way to stay up to date: https://www.theydeservemore.com/newsroom/
References
Coalition for a DSP Living Wage. (n.d.). Direct Support Work is NOT Minimum Wage Work. Retrieved from http://www.njdspcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FY2020-Budget-Summary.pdf
PHI. (2018). Home Care Workers in Illinois: Key Facts. Retrieved from https://phinational.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/dcwillinois_factsheet16-web_0.pdf.
