Senior Advocacy Organizations Kick Off Campaign to Create a Statewide Solution for Quality Home Care

PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania’s senior citizens say they want to stay at home instead of checking into a nursing home, and three leading advocacy groups have launched a campaign to give them that choice by creating a state solution for quality home care.

            Kathy Lind, a retired Registered Nurse and a spokesperson for the My Life, My Choice campaign, told a press conference here today that seniors and their supporters hope to persuade elected officials in three counties — Allegheny, Washington and Luzerne — to join with the Rendell Administration to give Pennsylvania’s seniors the tools they need to live with dignity in their own homes.

            “It just makes sense,” she said.  “Homecare costs about a third what nursing home care costs, and with a large and growing elderly population, Pennsylvania needs desperately to expand capacity to care for them.  A solution in Pennsylvania will not only provide seniors a choice, it will help to increase and improve the homecare workforce, ensuring that seniors who wish to stay at home can find qualified caregivers.”

            Lind said that states like Washington and Oregon have established Quality Homecare Commissions, and used their Commissions to help the majority of the seniors who need care to get that care at home. In Pennsylvania, the reverse is true: some 73 percent of the Commonwealth’s seniors requiring long-term care reside in nursing homes, while only 27% are able to remain in their own homes.

            John Joyce, a senior who takes care of his wife at home and is volunteering to work with My Life, My Choice, said “I take care of my wife’s needs every day.  It gets tiring and I worry about my ability to provide the best care, but I don’t want her to have to go to a nursing home.  We need the state to step in so that if there comes a day that I can’t be my wife’s primary helper, we can choose a qualified, trained worker from the Commission registry. I can be safe in knowing that my wife can stay with me at home and still get the personal care that she needs.”

            Lind said that My Life, My Choice volunteers like Joyce will criss-cross the state, actively lobbying county councilors and commissioners, calling on newspaper editorial boards for support, visiting senior centers and asking seniors to sign cards indicating their support for the state find a solution similar to those in Oregon and beyond.

            If a solution such as a Commission is enacted, Pennsylvania will connect seniors with qualified, well-trained caregivers, allowing seniors to choose workers who speak their language, who accommodate their schedule, or who they most comfortable with in their home.  Pennsylvania will also establish and monitor standards of performance and care and act as a centralized information center and as a source of back-up workers.

            This drive for quality homecare and a well-trained, reliable workforce, is supported by many senior advocates and community groups, including Pennsylvania AARP, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and many other organizations listed at www.choosehomecare.org. Through the My Life, My Choice campaign, they hope to persuade elected leaders to make a Quality Home Care Commission a central part of our state’s long term care system.

            Pennsylvania AARP is the largest senior organization in Pennsylvania, helping those 50 and older with an emphasis on those at social and economic risk.

            C.A.R.I.E., the Center for Advocacy of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia dedicated to improving the quality of life for vulnerable elderly persons.

            SEIU Healthcare PA, the largest health care union in Pennsylvania, unites over 20,000 health care workers in the Commonwealth to protect patient care, expand access to quality health care, and to improve working conditions.

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