Great news: The Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) just shared that Virginia home care workers are getting masks!
We have been working with SEIU 512, the home care union, to fight for access to personal protective equipment (PPE) for Virginia home care workers as part of our Care Safe initiative. After weeks of advocacy, DMAS announced that they are shipping masks to Medicaid recipients to share with their home care providers. Check out this article on our win.
Virginia’s home care workers are health care heroes who perform essential work during which social distancing is impossible. Even though most of their patients are high-risk older adults, home care workers have not been prioritized for PPE until now. You told me that this was a concern for our district, and I listened
We have more left to do. Virginia’s home care workers still need additional PPE, hazard pay, and overtime. And we still need to ensure our providers at long-term care facilities have access to the testing they need. Know that I’m working on this – and we are seeing results.