The issues that result from a mismatch of supply and demand are easier to understand than they can be to resolve, and particularly dismaying when they involve a shortage of providers for health care and a growing number of those who need that care, whether in hospital, nursing facility or home settings.
The problem is no more plainly stated than this: “We need more caregivers, and we need them now.”
The warning comes from Mae Hochstetler, a Lynnwood mother of four adult children, who works part time as a paid parent home care provider for her 25-year-old son, Joshua, who is autistic and confronts epileptic seizures and behavioral health challenges.
About 4,000 people in Snohomish County are eligible for paid care at home — supported by the state and federally funded Medicaid program — that allows Hochstetler to provide her son’s care, while working a second job to make ends meet. But for others the waiting list for a home care provider currently is at least two months, and long-term care providers in the home — with the exception of parents or adult children — are required to complete 75 hours of training, pass a certification exam and complete state and federal background checks. Current law also requires that the certification process be completed within 200 days of being hired.
The solution — returning to basic terms — calls for an expanded pool of those who can be trained for care and better pay that encourages people to return or consider jobs in a range of care settings.