On October 18th, LeadingAge joined Argentum and the American Senior Housing Association (ASHA) in co-signing a letter to the Senate and House Congressional leadership, and to the co-chairs of the House 21st Century Long-Term Care Task Force, to ask for help in addressing the historic workforce shortage crisis, that has significantly impacted the aging services workforce. The LTC Workforce Coalition letters ask for a robust and targeted federal investment, to develop in-demand career paths and help train a workforce to care for older adults in their greatest need. Additionally, the letters specifically ask Congress to:
- Expand federal incentives to allow aging services providers to retain and attract qualified staff;
- Expand existing federal workforce funding allocated to states, and prioritize long-term care workforce shortages;
- Increase funding for senior living and geriatric care in academic settings;
- Expand and incentivize the Registered Apprenticeship Programs to develop career pathways for aging services providers and stakeholder partnerships; and
- Enact common-sense immigration programs that build dependable international pipelines of trained caregivers.
Here’s the link to the letter: https://leadingage.org/leadingage-workforce-coalition-letter/
