Oregon Works!: Promoting Change Through Person-Directed Care

A project of Better Jobs Better Care

Field of Work: long-term-care workforce needs in Oregon

Problem Synopsis: Unprecedented vacancies and high turnover among nursing assistants, home health aides and personal care attendants have affected both home- and community-based providers and nursing homes, which have reported annual turnover rates ranging from 40 percent to more than 100 percent. These recruitment and retention problems affect both the quantity and the quality of long-term-care services.

Synopsis of the Work: The Oregon Works! project of Better Jobs Better Care aimed to improve recruitment and retention of direct-care workers at eight participating long-term-care sites, called Leadership Sites, which included four nursing homes, two assisted-living facilities, a residential care facility and a home care agency. The union representing the state's independent home-care workers also participated. The lead agency was the Oregon Technical Assistance Corporation, which led a coalition of stakeholders with a prior history of working together on long-term care initiatives.

Key Results: Supervisors and direct-care workers at the Leadership Sites received training in the LEAP model of person-directed care. LEAP (Learn, Empower, Achieve, Produce) is a comprehensive workforce development program created in 1999 to empower staff, increase retention and promote staff-resident relationships through a model of person-directed care.

Coalition partners developed and implemented a person-centered care policy statement designed to help set standards for long-term-care practices in Oregon.

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