To the Editor,
I recently contacted Senator Jeremy Miller and Representative Greg Davids regarding the concern of availability of care and services for vulnerable adults in our society with the following message and I’m quite sure many reading this are experiencing similar situations. It is time we make our politicians aware of the seriousness of this issue.
I just heard on the Minnesota news that there are adult group homes closing due to availability of staff, is what we are told. I am aware that salaries are prohibitively low in appealing to hiring needed staff.
My circumstances are the need for home care for my husband and continually running into brick walls for availability of staff from various agencies and even in looking for private hire, there is few and far between help available. This is not where one hires someone off the street with no experience, training or background check.
I know the realities of making arrangements for homecare with reliable, dependable, honest, experienced help. Been there, done that for my mother in the early 2000s when more help was available, but still one had to monitor for safe advocacy for our loved ones.
Wouldn’t one solution be to fund vocational schools and other training facilities for home aid training programs, like Governor Walz has indicated to improve staffing for nursing homes?
I’m not interested in cutting taxes, credits, and all that political jargon. We need some of that surplus to fund and promote training of trustworthy folks as well as to supplement care agencies with grants and whatever means to improve salaries of these hardworking care takers.
We may all end up needing those services one of these days too.
I would appreciate you giving this the foremost attention as you work on the budget. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joan Redig
Houston, Minn.