Service provider's plea to Michigan to maintain increased wages for direct care workers

Bridge Magazine,"Michigan’s nonpartisan, nonprofit news source", published an opinion piece by Darren Hodgdon, the CEO of Beacon Specialized Living, a care provider serving individuals with disabilities and mental health needs at over 80 locations across Michigan. 

 The article, "Michigan must keep the wage supplement for direct care workers", 4/27/21, urges the State to make permanent a temporary supplemental wage increase of $2.25/hour for direct care workers who work with people with disabilities, mental illness, the elderly, and others with disabilities.  Covid has exacerbated a problem that already existed:

"While the $2.25 supplemental wage increase currently allows providers such as Beacon to offer a starting wage of $12.50, this is still below what other states are funding and it is only temporary – set to expire again at the end of September. Mental health providers statewide are calling for permanent enactment of the wage increase on an ongoing basis per Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget Recommendation. We also need a clear return to work policy and funding support to help cover the costly weekly testing of employees who may refuse vaccination.

"There are high costs associated with not providing adequate access to specialized mental health services, including detriments to quality of life, uncompensated emergency care, lack of medication compliance and increased hospitalizations. This permanent funding is a vital step to ensuring sustainability and retaining caregivers as they shoulder the critical, but challenging, work of caring for one of Michigan’s most vulnerable populations."

As the economy heats up, as it is expected to do, better paying and easier jobs will become available. There is good reason to believe that many direct care workers, even those who love their jobs and are dedicated to helping people with disabilities, will join the exodus of workers from this difficult and unappreciated profession.  

Hodgdon continues,

"Our citizens and communities simply cannot afford the ramifications of letting this additional pay disappear. It would also recognize the awe-inspiring and critical work these caregivers provide to Michiganders with severe mental illness, developmental disabilities, chronic disease, or substance abuse disorders who rely on this care."