Emergency accountable funding is a strong step forward, caregivers urge permanent solutions to the crisis
For Immediate Release: February 2, 2022
Contact: karen.gownley@seiuhcpa.org
(Harrisburg, PA) – Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare PA, issued the following statement in response to Governor Wolf’s $1.7B proposal to utilize federal ARPA (American Respect Plan Act) funds, including $250M to long term care.
“We appreciate and applaud Governor Wolf for responding to the needs of Pennsylvanians and proposing immediate utilization of ARPA funds to ease the burdens so many workers and families face due to the pandemic.
“Included in his plan is $250M to help stabilize our long term care workforce, which has been devastated over the past two years. Not only have thousands of nursing home residents and caregivers lost their lives to COVID, but the pandemic has laid bare the flaws and decades of neglect of our nursing home industry, leaving us in a catastrophic crisis that puts our aging population and frontline caregivers at risk.
“Governor Wolf’s proposed investment will provide some relief to caregivers, who are caring for 20 or more residents at a time, often for poverty wages and without benefits to be able to take care of themselves and their own families. Ensuring transparency in how this money is spent is critical – we must make sure investments into our nursing home industry make it directly to the bedside to improve care.
“This is an important step to provide relief to caregivers, and must also be combined with the permanent, sustainable change we need to ensure every Pennsylvanian can receive person-centered care in the setting of their choice.
“Pennsylvania nursing homes are on the brink of collapse. We must transform the nursing home industry with a permanent investment that will provide safe staffing standards, training, wages and benefits to grow the workforce and keep caregivers at the bedside, and protections from unethical nursing home owners.
“And moving forward, there must be transparency and accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent in our state’s nursing homes to ensure money is spent on bedside care.
“Pennsylvania has one of the fastest-growing senior populations. Our legislature has a responsibility to listen to caregivers and fund a system that will provide quality, dignified care to our citizens and those who care for them.”
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SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania is the state’s largest and fastest-growing union of nurses and healthcare workers, uniting tens of thousands of professional and technical employees, direct care workers, and service employees in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home- and community-based services, and state facilities across the Commonwealth. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania members are committed to improving the lives of health care workers and ensuring quality care and healthy communities for all Pennsylvanians
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