This article points out a problem in Pennsylvania that is also pervasive across the country--the State's are not doing enough to allow seniors to get help at home.
"Those who do receive home care report problems finding and keeping qualified caregivers," the report said, noting that 40 percent of home health workers have been with their employer less than one year.
Report faults Pa.'s senior car
It says the state isn't doing enough to allow seniors to get help at home.
By Michael Vitez
Inquirer Staff Writer
Pennsylvania, despite recent progress, still lags in efforts to care for the frail elderly in their homes rather than in nursing homes, according to a report released yesterday by the Action Alliance of Senior Citizens and the Service Employees International Union.
"Pennsylvania is the second-oldest state in the nation, but ranks among the worst states for providing senior citizens with access to home care," begins the report, titled "No Direction Home."
"Those who do receive home care report problems finding and keeping qualified caregivers," the report said, noting that 40 percent of home health workers have been with their employer less than one year.
"The turnover is fueled by poverty-level wages and a lack of benefits such as health-care coverage, sick days, and vacation for caregivers," it said.
"The pay is bad, the working conditions are bad, the protections are bad, and they have no medical benefits," said Pedro Rodriquez, president of Action Alliance. "And seniors can identify. They want the person taking care of them to be taken care of as well."
The report also said that in 2004, Pennsylvania spent nearly three times more on nursing homes than on home care.
"The toughest nut to crack will be: How do we shift payments from nursing homes to community- and home-based care?" Rodriguez said. "We're looking for more dedicated funds."
State officials say they have made dramatic strides doing what the report asks - giving Pennsylvanians more access to care in their homes.
Michael Nardone, executive director of the governor's Long Term Living Council, stressed that Pennsylvania started out in the back of the pack, with the culture heavily reliant on nursing homes.
"We've tripled the funding for home- and community-based care for the elderly since 2002," he said.
In the current budget, Nardone said, the administration funded 2,800 more people in home and community care. It also provided funding for 1,500 people with disabilities to receive care at home.
"I feel like we put our money where our mouth is," he said.
Yesterday's report says 80,000 Pennsylvanians are in nursing homes, 54,000 of them paid for with money from taxpayers. "Fewer than 15,000 Medicaid recipients get home care," the report says, although Nardone says the number this year exceeds 20,000 when other state funding, such as the lottery, is included.
Other points in the report:
Pennsylvania has more skilled-nursing facilities - 700 - than public high schools.
By 2020, 18.8 percent of Pennsylvanians are expected to be older than 65, an increase of half a million since 2000. The over-85 population is expected grow by 52 percent.
There is a shortage of about 10,000 direct-care workers.
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Contact staff writer Michael Vitez at 215-854-5639 or mvitez@phillynews.com.
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