San Diego County to create pipeline for home health workers

San Diego Union-Tribune - 10/7/2021

With the number of San Diegans over 65 projected to double by 2030, officials are planning to recruit and train more senior care workers.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to develop plans to recruit and retain workers for its In Home Supportive Services program, which assists seniors and people with disabilities.

"San Diego has always been a hospitable place for seniors," Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer stated in a letter to the board. "If San Diego seeks to be a truly age-friendly community, we must prepare to meet the needs of seniors and people with disabilities with a focus on diseases affecting memory and cognition."

The board also directed county administrators to maximize state matching funds for these services and to gather data on caregiving in San Diego County.

Supervisors asked county health staff members to work with labor and community organizations to develop training plans for senior care, and consider wages, benefits and health care for home health workers. And it agreed to explore expanding its respite program for people caring for an older or disabled family member

Over the past decade use of home health care services has doubled, and it is expected to keep growing, Lawson-Remer stated in the letter. San Diego is now home to half a million people over age 65. That number is expected to reach 1 million by 2030, in alignment with state trends showing the aging population doubling within that time.

Home care workers provide services including household tasks, medication management and assistance with bathing and dressing. This can enable people to live at home as they grow older, she said.

"As we age, our bodies don't always hold up," Lawson-Remer said. "But this doesn't always mean that someone should move into institutional care. Caregivers allow seniors to remain in home and not have to move to an institution."

High turnover rates among the home healthcare workforce means that there aren't enough workers available to meet San Diego's needs, she said.

Supervisor Jim Desmond voted to approve the measure, but said he wanted the county to seek state funds to cover its costs.

"This is a really important program to give care to people who really need it, to keep them out of nursing homes," he said. "But this is a state program that we implement. I think the state needs to step up and fund the cost of the program."

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.