Recruitment Effort Launched to Find Long-term Caregivers

    However, long-term care workers such as Ms. Cassell are in short supply, because not many people are willing to take on such physically demanding work for low pay.

    That’s why local career and job counselors are beginning to receive visits and information from the Long-Term Care Workforce Initiative, a local group that hopes to lure people to work in the long-term care business.

    The three-year, $1.3 million recruitment effort was initiated last year by United Way’s Senior Success Vision Council. The vision council will provide about half the money for the project, said Janice Dzigiel, director of the Center for Applied Gerontology at Cuyahoga Community College, which is heading up the workforce initiative. Local foundations also have provided money for the project, she said.

    Sue Neff, co-chair of the workforce initiative’s Public Awareness Task Force, said her group has made an effort "to gather together the right people to go out and meet with job counselors to make them aware of the opportunities in health care."

    The group hopes that by informing counselors at local career centers of the jobs available in long-term care, more people will show an interest in working in that field, said Ms. Neff, who also is executive director of The Gardens of McGregor and Amasa Stone, the long-term care home in East Cleveland where Ms. Cassell works.

    Ronald Hill, executive director of the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging, a local organization that plans and administers state and federally funded programs for the elderly, said a staffing crisis is looming in the long-term care field.

    "Unless we can meet those challenges, we’re going to be in the position of where we have to deny care," a scenario that could surface in as little as five years, said Mr. Hill, who also is chairman of the workforce initiative.

    The government has no way of tracking how many people take care of the elderly in their own homes and in long-term care settings, Mr. Hill said. However, industry insiders know the shortage exists, especially as more long-term care homes are experiencing almost constant employee turnover and must use temporary workers to fill the gaps in their staffs, he said.

    The shortage is only expected to get worse as the population ages, Ms. Dzigiel said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists long-term care as one of the 10 fastest-growing health occupations in Ohio. The Bureau projects that by 2010, the state will need about 672,000 personal and home health aides, up 62% from 414,000 in 2000.

    The workforce initiative in its employee hunt will target retirees, people who have been laid off or people who are considering a career in health care, Mr. Hill said. They expect to find these prospective employees through the career centers they are visiting, he said.

    However, a bigger hurdle might be in finding the right people--those who are willing to do hard work such as helping feed, bathe and clothe the elderly--for an average pay of $9 per hour, Mr. Hill said.

    Noted Ms. Dzigiel: "It’s not sex. People really have to have heart and compassion and a sense that that’s really what they want to be doing."

    In its drive for prospective employees, the group plans to tout the stability in long-term care due to the aging population, the possibility of moving up in the field, and emotional satisfaction.

    Part of the secret to successful recruitment and retention of employees lies in education and training of workers, said Richard Browdie, president and CEO of Benjamin Rose, a local nonprofit agency with two nursing homes in Cleveland and a research arm devoted to improving services to senior citizens.

    "If we can get employees to where they feel like they’re working as a team" and do not feel overwhelmed by their work, they’ll stick around longer and speak more highly of their jobs, Mr. Browdie said. That combination could translate into a natural recruiting tool for long-term care jobs, he said.

    To aid in the recruitment effort, the initiative has developed a directory to distribute to career counselors that lists the required training needed for various long-term care jobs in Northeast Ohio and where to obtain such training, Ms. Dzigiel said. Such information in the past was not readily available to job seekers, she said.

SOURCE: Shannon Mortland, written originally for Crain’s Cleveland Business, March 15-21, 2004.