Giving Care
I’m grateful that you are now including articles on the family caregiver (Giving Care, by Linda R. Cronin, August 2006). Once the invisible partner, family caregivers are now being seen as the backbone of the Caregiving industry. We here in Arizona are working furiously on changing the face of the industry.
Through standardizing the training for the entry-level home and community based worker, we’ve facilitated a partnership with providers and community colleges to do training, a portable credential for those who complete the training, and we’ve urged the state agencies to develop a position that will coordinate all funding sources for long-term care for all populations. That’s never been done before here. Each population (ie. elderly, physically disabled, developmentally disabled, and serious mentally ill) went after their own funding individually.
This will put Arizona in line for more federal and private funding dollars to improve care. Needless to say, this is very, very exciting.
Bonnie Danowski (via e-mail)
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