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Metropolis Faculty of San Francisco, UC San Francisco and Homebridge Launch Groundbreaking Partnership To Improve Entry To Well being Care Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO, September 22, 2021 / PRNewswire / – A groundbreaking educational partnership begins today that will empower the home care workforce and provide dedicated caregivers with an avenue to careers in nursing. The partnership between City College of San Francisco (CCSF), UC San Francisco (UCSF) and Homebridge – one of San Francisco Leading in-house care organizations for older adults and people with complex health, behavioral and social needs – follows key lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis. It should strengthen San Francisco Responding to current challenges related to aging, equal opportunities and labor.

The program provides Homebridge In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) employees with on-the-job training for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certification by CCSF and connects participants with on-the-job clinical training at UCSF. It will then connect workers with CNA jobs and provide a path to nursing careers with San Francisco Health care provider.

The initiative aims to overcome barriers to career advancement for home care services, including access to education and training, and fees related to healthcare education and certification. Funded by the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development and the Metta Fund, the program provides paid on-the-job training for CNA certification for Homebridge employees. Program participants stay on the job at Homebridge while attending ten hours of weekly classes on the CCSF curriculum. The state clinical practice requirement of 100 hours is met at UCSF Health.

“The launch of this innovative career pipeline initiative is an important strategic step in expanding our long-term care workforce and creating a thriving health sector for all San Franciscans,” said Mayor London Breed. “Since these workers are predominantly colored women, the initiative also shows San Francisco Commitment to economic opportunities and equal opportunities for women and people of color. These dedicated home care workers have been at the forefront of helping older adults and people with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis, saving lives and enabling vulnerable residents to stay at home safely here in the city. “

The story goes on

Throughout the pandemic, home and community caregivers have been first responders to older adults and people with disabilities living in isolation at home. Your rapid response networks and home support services are critical to maintaining home safety, access to vital resources such as food and health care, and facilitating entry or re-entry into community care facilities.

“As the most important vehicle for professional and personnel training in San Francisco, City College is looking forward to this partnership “, commented Interim Chancellor Dianna Gonzales. She added, “Partnerships like this also show our commitment to economically empowering our diverse and most vulnerable communities while continuing our mission to provide educational pathways with a social justice perspective.”

Fully accredited by the CA Department of Public Health, the 15-week, on-the-job, Certified Nursing Assistant training program provides career opportunities in certified healthcare for home care workers and provides healthcare providers with access to a dedicated, highly skilled, experienced and patient workforce . The partnership is an innovative step in the integration of home care and health services that has long been advocated by IHSS practitioners and beneficiaries as necessary for successful, high quality home care.

A statewide master plan for aging called for by Governor Newsom in 2018 and published in January 2021, names “care that works” as one of its five bold goals to be achieved by 2030. The plan aims to create one million high quality caregivers and predicts a labor shortage of up to 3.2 million paid direct caregivers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for long-term support workers at home and in the community increased and is expected to increase in the near future as access to IHSS is expanded below California State law 2021-2022. These shifts come after a decade of growth in California direct care workers between 2009-2019 (source: PHI) and as California is preparing for 25% of the population to be 65 or older by 2030.

Home care is currently the largest of all occupations in California (Source: PHI 2021). Despite their vast reach, the vendors’ workforce remains largely underpaid and unrecognized as an invaluable part of the U.S. workforce and health care system. In California, home care workers are twice as likely to live in low-income households as other Californians, and one in four lives below the state poverty line (Source: CA Master Plan for Aging). Most nursing professions are held by women (81% PHI), especially black, Indigenous, Latin American, and Asian-American women, and many are immigrants (48% PHI).

The program is also a step in addressing a significant shortage of nurses and nursing assistants across the country, both in the face of aging nursing staff and increased demands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This partnership offers these frontline workers an important career path that also helps hospitals and other health care facilities that benefit from the new skills of these workers,” said Dr. Pat Patton, DNP, MSN, RN, Chief Nurse Executive and Vice President of Patient Care Services at UCSF Health. “As an anchor institution in San Francisco, with the goal of contributing to the socio-economic health of our community as well as health care needs, we pride ourselves on being part of advancing the employee and health development goals that are critical to meeting the nursing needs of the San Franciscans are.”

The program is one of three CCSF institutional service agreements, including one with SF Police and SF Fire focused on career expansion and the first in healthcare. For Homebridge, whose IHSS work is funded by a contract with the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services, it is the next link in a highly acclaimed person-centered care model with a ladder from home care to health care. “We believe that delivering critical training with employment is a way of doing things San Francisco and other jurisdictions everywhere California to increase the number of employees with incentives and a suitably skilled workforce capable of meeting the growing demands of an aging population California,” called Mark Burns, CEO of Homebridge.

CONTACT: Erin Saberi (916) 952-5080 / esaberi@me.com/

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SOURCE Homebridge

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