Maryland
Study: Lack of ‘living wage’ exacerbates labor shortages for some of Maryland’s health care workers
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A few of the area’s lowest paid well being employees throughout Baltimore say they’re underpaid and overworked because the COVID-19 pandemic that has lingered for the previous three years, continues to emphasize the medical system.
Social justice organizers with Maryland Direct Providers Collaborative surveyed people referred to as direct-care employees, equivalent to nursing assistants, medication assistants, dwelling care aides.
These employees typically present affected person care to people with disabilities and older adults and say the wages supplied by medical suppliers are just too low to outlive.
The median wage for these well being care employees vary between $23,000 to $27,000 which makes it tough to make ends meet, in accordance with a brand new research from the Maryland Direct Providers Collaborative, a gaggle of organizations representing frontline employees.
For instance, Rhonda is a licensed medication aide in Baltimore at a long-term elder care facility. WYPR is shielding her identify and administrative center for worry of retaliation
Rhonda is continually on her ft, generally taking good care of 20 sufferers at one time.
“We made a number of sacrifices on the frontlines for the COVID 19 pandemic,” she stated. “And since then, lots of people have been pressured to depart healthcare as a result of low wages. We make about $13 or $14 an hour. It impacts our psychological and bodily well being. You come to the place you must decide and select if you purchase your meals, gasoline and electrical, medication and your water invoice.”
There are about 55,000 employees throughout Maryland who care immediately for sufferers. The job is stuffed overwhelmingly by Black girls, in accordance with the research.
About 84% of dwelling care employees are girls, in addition to 85% of employees at assisted dwelling amenities, and 95% of employees in nursing properties. A complete of 68% of dwelling care employees, 80% of employees at assisted dwelling amenities, and 76% of employees in nursing properties are Black.
“Practically everybody acknowledges that they don’t make sufficient cash,” stated Meg LaPorte, one of many authors of the research and govt director of the Maryland Direct Providers Collaborative. “When you take a look at the MIT dwelling wage calculator, they’re both at or simply beneath dwelling wages.”
Assisted-care amenities and folks needing dwelling care are having hassle recruiting and retaining individuals to work. A part of the difficulty is Medicaid reimbursement charges, LaPorte stated.
Medicaid is the biggest funder of dwelling care in Maryland. Nonetheless, the report discovered that reimbursement charges don’t cowl what is required.
“House care employers that depend on Medicaid reimbursement to pay for companies are having a a lot tougher time discovering and retaining employees,” Caitlin Houck, govt director of Maryland Nationwide Capital Homecare Affiliation, stated within the report. “The Medicaid fee for dwelling care in Maryland doesn’t cowl the price of care. It prevents us from with the ability to preserve tempo with rivals each inside and out of doors of the house care business, and it’s not going away anytime quickly.”
LaPorte stated one of many suggestions made within the report is that Baltimore and Maryland negotiate for higher Medicaid charges.
There are already some initiatives underway.
Final yr, Maryland arrange the Direct Care Workforce Innovation Program, which units apart at the very least $250,000 in grants for novel applications that improve the workforce or retention.
The grants are awarded in $50,000 increments.
Regardless of the problems, Rhonda, medication assistant in Baltimore, she’s not giving up on the job.
“My coronary heart is there in what I do,” she stated. “I advocate for them, any individual’s obtained to concentrate. I’d need any individual to deal with me. I wouldn’t give it up for nothing. Till the breath come out of my physique. I am nonetheless going to take it as quite than no matter cash.”
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Maryland
Partial victory in effort to preserve historic Black cemetery in Maryland
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Maryland
Maryland issues a new suicide prevention action plan for schools, families – WTOP News
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Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in Maryland. That’s according to a new suicide prevention action plan produced through the state’s Department of Health.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in Maryland. That’s according to a new suicide prevention action plan produced through the state’s Department of Health.
Scott Poland, the director of the Office of Suicide and Violence Prevention at Nova Southeastern University College of Psychology, talked to WTOP about the action plan he authored with his wife, Donna, who is a career educator.
The “Maryland Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in K-12 Schools” serves as a reference guide to school administrators and the community, and was developed in cooperation with the state health department’s Office of Suicide Prevention.
Poland said one thing that surprises people is that children as young as 8 years old may consider taking their own lives.
“I hear from school personnel all around the country (asking if they) have to take it seriously (if a fourth or fifth grader is talking about suicide). And the answer is absolutely yes,” Poland said.
Among the data points in the action plan is a survey of students in the “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey of 2021/2022.” According to that survey, 21% of high school students “seriously considered suicide” in the past year, and 27% of middle schoolers considered suicide at some point in their lives.
Poland said it’s important to talk about suicide with young people, and that the idea that talking about it might encourage a young person to consider suicide is a “myth.”
“When we actually bring it up, it gives someone a chance to unburden themselves, to realize that they’re not alone, that there are alternatives and that there is help available,” Poland said.
But he said young people are most susceptible to imitating suicidal behavior: “It is important that we not glorify the suicide victim.”
Instead, Poland said, the emphasis after a suicide should be on healing those affected and helping them find appropriate ways to deal with their emotions and mental health.
The plan released this week includes providing intervention action plans for a young person who may be considering suicide.
“Part of that, of course, is removing lethal means and developing a written safety plan with them,” he said.
Poland said that can include helping people understand “the importance of calling 988, doing things that can calm themselves down,” and reaching out to the nearest trusted adult.
People can reach the national resource for crisis response services and suicide prevention by dialing 988.
Poland said social media is “wreaking havoc” on children’s emotional well-being, often making them feel “not smart enough, not rich enough, not good enough.” Poland said he’s currently working with the state of South Dakota on developing tools to help “young people be a little more mindful and make better decisions about their screen time.”
Poland said parents can help — when it comes to the hours and hours that many people spend online — by modeling healthy amounts of screen time themselves. And he said adults need to think about how they introduce technology to their kids.
“We’re in too (much of) a hurry to give kids smartphones and 24-hour internet access,” Poland said.
“I really have to compliment Maryland,” Poland said, on coming up with the new plan.
Poland said Maryland does not have an especially high rate of suicide, but “I think we all recognize that losing one young person to suicide is one too many.”
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Maryland
Getting to know Michigan State football’s Week 2 opponent: Maryland
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Game two is coming up for Michigan State football as the Spartans hit the road for an early season Big Ten matchup against Maryland. The Terps have had MSU’s number in recent years, but the Spartans’ new-look team is ready to change that narrative this weekend.
Jonathan Smith and his staff have a lot to work on this week after a lackluster 16-10 win over Florida Atlantic, but we’ve become more than used to slow starts for MSU in their first game so it’s not time to panic just yet.
While the team wraps up their preparations for Maryland, let’s take a quick look at the Terps and see what we can learn about them before the big game on Saturday.
Maryland is off and running in their 2024 campaign and had an absolutely dominant week one performance. The Terps took on UConn at home and came away with an impressive 50-7 win. Sure UConn is an awful football program, but we saw how poorly Michigan State just did against a similar opponent.
Not only was the final score lopsided, but ever major statistical category was as well. Maryland doubled UConn in first downs and rushing yards, threw for nearly 400 passing yards and even won the turnover battle 3-0. The Terps also only had five penalties for 45 yards which is significantly better than MSU’s 12 for 140 yards against FAU.
Sure all of this took place against UConn, but it appears that Maryland is in a very good spot heading into this big week two matchup.
One thing that I thought would be a positive for Michigan State in this game is that Maryland is breaking in a new quarterback as well. The Terps’ quarterback, Billy Edwards Jr., went off against UConn and completed 20-of-27 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns. He also is a capable runner and added 39 yards on the ground, so Michigan State will have its hands full on Saturday slowing him down.
The Terps don’t have one standout running back in the backfield, so that does benefit MSU. They do however have two solid backs in Roman Hemby and Nolan Ray who both ran for over 60 yards and one score each.
The one player however that Michigan State needs to pay the most attention to is wide receiver Tai Felton. He had one of the best Week 1 performances in the country as he recorded seven receptions for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Thankfully MSU’s defense and secondary looked much improved against FAU, so hopefully that carries over into this weekend’s matchup.
The opportunity in front of MSU on Saturday is massive. The Spartans are big underdogs in this matchup which they probably deserve, but a win would do wonders not just for the overall perception of the team but for their confidence moving forward.
I’ve got a strange feeling that we’re going to be very happy around 7 p.m. ET Saturday night.
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