LIFE Senior Services, Inc.

PROJECT PURPOSE

Over 80% of LIFE Senior Services staff members are frontline workers. Their service throughout the pandemic continues to be steadfast while caring for seniors with dignity and compassion. We served 80,000 seniors throughout the pandemic and continue to serve in new and traditional ways. Our request is to provide pay increases to frontline staff members specific to Homecare, Adult Day Health, and Independent Case Management. Recruiting and retaining staff for such vital jobs is essential. This effort is increasingly difficult because pay rate starts at only $12 an hour. Earning less than starting pay one could anticipate in a restaurant or retail setting while working in a demanding, sensitive environment will continue to put senior and elderly care jobs at a disadvantage. LIFE Senior Services needs support to raise the pay for these positions incrementally. With the ARPA funding, LIFE Senior Services would be able to sustain this pay rate forward from 2024 by negotiating contract renewals over time to the highest levels, avoiding passing the cost onto seniors.

EVIDENCE

LIFE Senior Services experienced a turnover rate at the height of the pandemic, 21%. We are currently at a 27% turnover rate, and evidence is pointing to lower than average regional pay for hourly staff members as a reason. Coupled with unemployment pay rates illustrating an $11.25 hourly pay schedule and the significant demands these positions face, LIFE will continue to experience staffing shortfalls without interventions. This staffing shortfall will render the senior population in a more vulnerable position.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

LIFE Senior Services serves seniors, an especially vulnerable population facing COVID-19. Threats to health and the negative impacts of social isolation made seniors disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Our programs are in-person and offer highly individualized senior care to create positive outcomes in behavioral health, reduce falls and hospital stays, and enable seniors to live as independently as possible. Paying the frontline staff to attract and retain qualified individuals will benefit the seniors and caregivers we serve. Our frontline staff serves seniors and adult with disabilities. This is especially consistent in our Adult Day Health program. Our Homecare staff serves low income seniors with multiple chronic illnesses and helps forestall expensive nursing home care.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Our plan would measure our ability to recruit, train, and retain employees in senior care. Our pay increase would affect frontline staff members in LIFE Senior Services' Homecare, Adult Day Health, and Independent Case Management. We would collect data using our existing collection systems, including client satisfaction, staff recruitment, training, and retention.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma