“Study links opioid deaths to workplace injuries” – The Boston Globe
“A construction worker atop scaffolding next to the Southeast Expressway.” – JONATHAN WIGGS\GLOBE STAFF
By Felice J. Freyer
“A Massachusetts study released Wednesday sheds light on an overlooked factor driving the opioid crisis: on-the-job injuries.
“The report found that construction workers, farmers, fishermen, and others employed in workplaces where injury is common die of opioid overdoses at rates five or six times greater than the average worker.
“Having little job security or sick pay — as is often the case in high-injury occupations — was also linked to higher rates of overdose deaths, according to the study by the state Department of Public Health.”
“Help wanted, but not from older workers: Many struggle to find jobs as employers post openings” – The Boston Globe
“Justin O’Connor handed a customer an iced coffee as he worked in the Fuller Cup coffee shop in Winchester. | Keith Bedford/Globe Staff
by Robert Weisman
“It’s late afternoon at the Venture Café in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. The tables are teeming with techies in T-shirts, sipping beer and pecking on laptops. Everybody works for a startup, every startup is hiring — now or soon — and every new hire seems younger than the last.
“‘I’m feeling old,’ jokes Xhulia Bratja, a manager at a fledgling data analytics firm, who turns 25 this week.
“Eight miles north, Justin O’Connor, 65, pours coffee for customers at the cozy Fuller Cup in Winchester. O’Connor, a longtime supply chain manager for telecom companies, hasn’t worked full time in his field since he was laid off in 2010.”
Read this Boston Globe article in its entirety, click here.
“Temporary Assistance for Needy Families | The Rapid Re-housing demonstration has completed its first year – 22 families who experienced homelessness were rapidly re-housed.”
Rapid re-housing is a promising intervention designed to quickly connect families and pregnant women temporarily experiencing homelessness to permanent housing and services. Studies show significant gains in long-term success and housing stability when a family is able to quickly leave homeless shelters and get stabilized immediately.
A YEAR AGO, the Department of Human Services partnered with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Homeless Services to administer this demonstration over a two-year period in West Philadelphia. The first participating families were rapidly re-housed and connected to needed services and employment with the goal of helping them attain self-sufficiency and ultimately reduce or eliminate their need for assistance in the future. In addition to receiving permanent housing, all 22 families from Year One received housing stabilization services, which included the completion of a stabilization plan. All of the families also received job development services, and as a result, 33 percent of families exiting the program also increased their income. As more families exit the program, we anticipate the growth of increased-income families to reach to 50 percent. All families who have exited the program thus far have remained in stable housing.
YEAR TWO OF THIS DEMONSTRATION started July 1, 2017, and will rapidly re-house 28 TANF-eligible families experiencing homelessness. Upon exiting the program, additional emphasis will be placed on securing employment and increasing income to better ensure families can maintain housing. Program evaluation and data collection will continue for 12 months. The demonstration is evaluated on a variety of performance measures to inform future efforts and explore best practices to better serve vulnerable TANF-eligible families experiencing homelessness.
SUCCESS STORIES
Ms. W entered the TANF Program as a single female with a child. Ms. W’s highest grade of education is 11th grade and her monthly entry income was $316. Ms. W obtained employment but had to resign when she became pregnant. After giving birth, Ms. W obtained full-time employment and increased her income from $316 to more than $1,000 a month, contingent upon an increase in hours. When the subsidy ended, she was able to maintain her rent without assistance. She also receives SNAP benefits to supplement food for her family. The Housing Stabilization Specialist negotiated a reduction in the rent from $900 to $800. Ms. W is still in the same apartment and is paying her rent independently.
Ms. J entered the TANF Program as a single female with an adopted child. Ms. J’s income at the beginning of the program was $480 a month adoption assistance. Ms. J is also partially disabled, but was not receiving disability payments when she entered the program. Ms. J did not have full use of her left arm which caused her to lose her job and, consequently, become homeless. The Housing Stabilization Specialist requested a rent reduction from $900 to $800 a month. Ms. J is currently employed through her church making $50 to $75 plus tips, varying by engagement. Due to her partial disability, she is in the process of getting her SSI/SSDI benefits. Ms. J also receives SNAP benefits to supplement food for the family. Ms. J is still in her apartment and is paying her rent independently.
SOURCES: Pennsylvania Department of Human Services / City of Philadelphia
Veterans’ Expo & Job Fair Returning to Lancaster
LANCASTER, Pa. (Oct. 5, 2017) – Area veterans of all ages, active military and their families are urged to attend the Veterans’ Expo & Job Fair, a free, one-day event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, at Spooky Nook Sports, 2913 Spooky Nook Road, Manheim.
Visitors at the Veterans’ Expo & Job Fair will have direct access to employers interested in hiring veterans and exhibitors offering benefits and resources.
Presented by OLP Events, the Veterans’ Expo will connect active, transitioning and retired military members and their families with the benefits and resources available to them through local community-service providers, healthcare professionals, VA benefits counselors, VFWs and American Legions—plus businesses covering everything from home improvement, legal services and finance to retirement living and insurance.
Representatives from the Recorder of Deeds office will be on hand to help all honorably discharged Lancaster County veterans record their DD-214 papers and enroll in the free Thank a Vet veterans discount program. Veterans should bring their full-sized DD-214s to be enrolled.
Additionally, a deserving veteran will receive a Quilt of Valor created by Stitches of West Brandywine.
The Job Fair provides an opportunity for veterans and employers to meet face-to-face to discuss available positions in industries ranging from finance and insurance to construction, healthcare and sales.
In the Job Fair’s Resource Center, military personnel can benefit from mock interviews and learn about VA Medicare options.
Sponsors include 50plus LIFE, AT&T, Blue Ridge Communications, Cigna Health Improvement Tour, Disabled American Veterans, ESPN 92.7, Fulton Financial Corporation, LCTV, Pennsylvania American Legion, Pennsylvania National Guard Outreach Office, Pennsylvania State Headquarters VFW, Worley & Obetz Inc., WFYL and WHTM abc27.
For more information on the Veterans Expo & Job Fair, call (717) 285-1350, visit www.veteransexpo.com, or check out videos of past events at www.youtube.com/user/OnLinePublishers.
SOURCE: news release
“Home Health Care: Shouldn’t It Be Work Worth Doing?” – The New York Times
“Changing the system of long-term care, to give more responsibilities to better-trained, higher-paid aides will not be easy.”
“Marisol Rivera, left, a senior aide, demonstrating a Hoyer lift to two associate instructors, Maria Soto and Miguelina Sosa, at a lab at Cooperative Home Care Associates. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
by Eduardo Porter
“Do you know who is going to care for you when you are old and frail? By current standards, it’s likely to be a middle-aged immigrant woman, with maybe a high school education and little if any training, making $20,000 a year.
“And that’s if you are lucky. If you live in rural America, you may already have a hard time finding somebody to look after you. Paul Osterman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management calculates that if nothing is done to draw more workers into the field, there will be a shortage of at least 350,000 paid care providers by 2040.
“This, I’m sure you’ll agree, makes little sense.
“How to provide long-term care for a fast-aging population poses one of the more convoluted challenges of the American labor market. Care providers — home health aides, personal care attendants and certified nursing assistants, in the government’s classification — are expected to be among the nation’s fastest-growing occupations.”
“For people with disabilities, the unemployment rate is still pretty high” – MARKETPLACE
“Linda Wright (C), 57, attends a job conference for unemployed people with disabilities at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut. – Christopher Capozziello/Getty Images”
by
“If you’re a person with a disability, you’re much likelier to have a harder time finding employment.
“According to the Department of Labor, in 2016, the unemployment rate for the general population was 4.6 percent. But for people with disabilities? It was stuck around 10.5 percent. That’s about where it was in 2015, too, meaning that despite the ebb and flow of the labor market, employment prospects didn’t change too much for people with disabilities.
“‘I don’t really see the employment rate for people with a significant disability going up. It just seems to have plateaued,’ said Greg Thompson, the executive director of the Personal Assistance Services Council in Los Angeles. ‘And unfortunately there’s a lot of disincentive for somebody with a significant disability to return to work because they lose all their benefits.’
“Thompson was injured in a water skiing accident in 1977, when he became quadriplegic. After his injury, he went through rehabilitation at Rancho Los Amigos in Los Angeles.”
Click here to continue reading this MARKETPLACE article.
“Workers Who Give Care To The Homebound Often Can’t Afford To Get Their Own” – Kaiser Health News
“Celeste Thompson, 57, a home care worker in Missoula, Mont., examines a pill bottle in her home. Thompson cares for her husband, and worries that if she loses her Medicaid coverage, she won’t be able to afford to see a doctor. (Mike Albans for KHN)”
“For more than two decades, Celeste Thompson, 57, a home care worker in Missoula, Mont., had not had regular contact with a doctor — no annual physicals and limited sick visits. She also needed new glasses.
“Like many others who work in the lower rungs of the health care system, she has worked hard to keep her clients healthy by feeding them, dressing them and helping them navigate chronic conditions.
“But because of the low wages and the hourly structure of this industry — which analysts estimate is worth nearly $100 billion annually and projected to grow rapidly — workers like Thompson often don’t have health insurance. Many home health agencies, 80 percent of which are for-profit, don’t offer coverage, or their employees don’t consistently clock enough hours to be eligible. They generally earn too much to qualify for public aid but too little to afford the cost of premiums.
“‘It’s a social justice issue.’”
Read this Kaiser Health News article in its entirety, click here.
