OHCA The Oregon Caregiver Fall Winter 2021

www.ohca.com FALL/WINTER 2021 The Oregon Caregiver 27 PROFILE The legislature has to focus on workforce, and the long term care workforce is one of the areas that is really struggling. We need to understand how to recruit workers, and how to recruit and retain a diverse workforce that reflects Oregon’s population. I think we have a significant role to play in making sure that we meet the needs of consumers, students, and workers in the industry, and a lot of that is bringing the stakeholders together. We need to sync up our education system, our workplace training, and our licensure with the needs of the employers and employees because we’ve got this system that isn’t quite responding to the moment that we have here. The pandemic shed a light on the vital work of health professionals of all kinds and increased the cultural appreciation for essential workers. It’s time that we had compensation and career support for these workers on par with their vital service. What role do you think diversity, equity, and inclusion plays in your personal approach to how you shape public policy? Equity is and must be the cornerstone of all our work. It means seeking out and being guided by voices of those on the ground and those who are most impacted by the issues. I don’t know that we’ve done a really good job of really listening to the people who are doing the work. We have a responsibility to run legislation through equity lenses and as we partner with people of color, LGBTQIA groups, and disability rights groups. We need to make sure that we’re being informed by folks on the ground to reduce the disparate impacts of legislation. The feminization of poverty is huge and if we continue to undervalue work that women do, we’re going to continue to have this march towards a deep feminization of poverty, which hurts all of society. When you lift the women, you lift the children; it will lift everybody. Making sure that we’re concentrating on lifting the wages, especially of undervalued workers, is super important to DEI. We also have a responsibility to diversify the legislature; representation matters. As the first openly gay and second LGBTQIA legislator in the Oregon Senate, I watched the profound impact of being able to speak with authority on a subject that I have lived experience with, so we’ve got to remove barriers that prevent diverse candidates from running. The legislative staff should also represent who’s out there and we’ve got to create a safe and equitable work environment. The legislature has to do better. Is there anything else you want your constituents to know about you? I would just like to thank the long term care sector. You’ve done an incredibly amazing job in a really difficult time, and what you’ve done and what you continue to do isn’t easy. We all know there’s a lot of struggle that has happened in the long term care facilities. Please know you are appreciated. My virtual door is always open. If you have thoughts on how we can better support the whole Long Term Care community and make it easier for more caring Oregonians to do this work, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or to your excellent representatives at the Oregon Health Care Association. Equity is and must be the cornerstone of all our work. It means seeking out and being guided by voices of those on the ground and those who are most impacted by the issues.