Help Wanted: Home Health Aide Shortage Makes It Hard For Seniors To Find Caregivers
GLEN COVE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Agencies across our area are having trouble finding enough workers to meet the needs of our growing elderly population.
Aides are desperately needed in homes to help with medical appointments, shopping, lifting and meals.
"How does it feel to be so needed?" asked CBS2's Jennifer McLogan.
"It feels great, but it's sad that some people can't afford or find somebody to be with them," said home health aide Erika Gomez.
Nordine Thompson, another home health aide, has to turn down job offers. Demand is outstripping supply.
Thompson says it takes a special person to do the work.
"Empathy. Put yourself in their position when your time comes around and would need some help," Thompson told CBS2's Jennifer McLogan.
As Baby Boomers age, experts predict in the coming decade New York state will need another million home health and personal care aides to fill new jobs and replace existing ones.
"It's growing. The older population is going to be tripling. So there is a very big need," said Sherri Meagher, a social worker at the Glen Cove Senior Center.
Lee Del Valle found out the hard way after her 92-year-old mother moved in with her.
"I started to panic because I asked every group I could think of and I couldn't find anyone to come and stay with her while I was at work," she told McLogan.
Many Long Island communities, especially those without trains or buses after home health shifts end at night, are finding it nearly impossible to staff workers.
"We are encountering many more people now who live alone and have no caregivers and still desperately need a program like this," said Lisa Craig of the Glen Cove Senior Center. It's a model in the state, serving 2,000 in the community, and it's filling the gap in care caused by the shortage of home care workers.
"They are nice ladies," said 99-year-old Frank Schwarz. He gets some help at home shopping, shoveling and dressing. Doctors want Schwarz and others like him to make the senior center part of their lives for exercise, intellectual pursuits and socialization.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports home health aides as the third fastest growing job category nationwide.
