OHCA The Oregon Caregiver Fall Winter 2021

The Oregon Caregiver FALL/WINTER 2021 www.ohca.com 10 FEATURE “The crisis ‘team’ is a unique model in that it’s designed with full teams to go in and can include nurses, direct care staff, or CNAs. You really can make a full impact and really support a facility through a shortage or outbreak,” she said. Marla Ipsen, the chief operating officer of Woollard Ipsen Management LLC, saw a caregiver shortage coming well before the pandemic. “I saw an increase in buildings and care needs and a decrease in caregiving staff that was available because they were being spread out between all these different buildings,” Ipsen said. » FEATURE, CONT. Ipsen is a board member on the health- care workforce group of the Rogue Workforce Partnership, which is the local workforce board for Southern Oregon. She has helped develop grant programs, through OHA and Rogue Workforce Partnership, that are aimed at caregiver and CNA recruiting. The Rogue Work- force Partnership one of the nine local workforce boards that service the state through the Oregon Workforce Partner- ship (oregonworkforceparnership.org ). The grant opportunity process, which started last year through RWP, has a goal of attracting new caregivers and CNAs to the workforce. They created a model to recruit for on-call caregivers, offering maximum flexibility and benefits for caregivers who wouldn’t be able to work in the traditional shift-model. Some of the benefits the caregivers in the program receive include the same hourly wage as is normal for the contracted facility, a weekly stipend of up to $400, childcare and transportation costs of up to $100 per week, and assistance with employment- related daycare. “We were trying to compensate getting people into the industry, who hadn’t been, or maybe couldn’t come back full-time but could be on-call four days a week and be available to come in if needed,” said Ipsen. This grant has also changed over the course of time to meet the rapidly changing needs due to the pandemic. Ipsen said, “When the hospital compres- sion started happening, we said, ‘why don’t we change the grant to include CNAs?’” She said the hope is this will create a domino effect. “Multiple disci- plines can use you. The hospital can use you and the nursing home could use you too, and hopefully the nursing home will then be staffed enough that the hospital can discharge them to the nursing home,” she said. Recognizing the barriers to building the workforce is important, too. Ipsen recognizes that fear of the industry is a factor in recruiting. “Caregivers are afraid. They don’t want to work in a COVID-19 environment, or they don’t want to wear all that gear in assisted living. We’re fighting against some of those drivers too, and that creates a problem,” she said. “If “Can we be creative in looking at different options to bring those who might not be our traditional workers into long term care—some new, wonderful folks? If we can be flexible and offer Oregonians opportunities and training that they didn’t have before, we may be able to move the needle on workforce.” – Linda Kirschbaum, OHCA Senior Vice President of Quality Services CONTINUES »