State gives $4.8 million to train long-term care workers, including $2 million in the region

The Department of Labor & Industry on Wednesday awarded $4.8 million in Direct Care Worker Training Grants to increase quality of services, offer specialty certifications and create more career opportunities for personal care assistants, home health aides and certified nursing assistants in Pennsylvania.

“As demand increases for essential services provided by direct care workers, their safety and the quality of care they provide must be maintained,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement. “Nearly 90 percent of direct care worker jobs are filled by women who receive limited health benefits and earn relatively low wages. These grants not only benefit our lived ones in long-term care facilities like nursing homes and receiving care at home, but also the workers who care for them.”

Wolf’s announcement comes while the covid-19 pandemic rips through nursing homes, and as facilities scramble to receive doses of the covid vaccine through a partnership between the federal government, CVS Health and Walgreens.

The grant programs will operate through Sept. 30, 2022, and will be distributed to four organizations across the state.

There will be $2 million going toward helping several counties in Western Pennsylvania, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Indiana, as well as some others in the state.

The grant goes to a partnership of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) HealthCare PA Education & Training Fund and the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund. According to a news release, the three entities will develop a “mutually beneficial solution to the covid-19 direct care workforce crisis.”

A Tribune-Review investigation and analysis of data from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services found nursing home facilities are increasingly reliant on outside help during the pandemic, often relying on staffing agencies.

Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit will receive $1.2 million to increase the number of direct care workers and expand the labor pool for several central Pennsylvania counties. There will be $407,000 going to Penn Asian Senior Services to provide home health aides, certified nursing assistants and English language training to displaced and incumbent workers in the health care industry. And $1.2 million will go to the Center for Independent Living of Central PA for trainees of CPR and first aid training, infection control and other services.

“Direct care workers not only serve their patients, they are also a true lifeline for families struggling to provide their loved ones with quality care,” said Jennifer Berrier, acting Labor & Industry secretary, in a statement. “These training grants are a win-win for the workers who will get new skills and the patients in their care.”