Suite 229
Phone: (520) 300-6872
Fax: (520) 300-6892 

Currently there are thousands of elders and those with chronic illnesses and disabilities who do not have access to quality long-term care and services.  The workforce of professional Direct Care Workers, who provide 80% of the paid care and services is unstable, unrecognized, poorly trained and under paid. Turnover rates range between 40 and 100 percent annually. Vacancies and turnover are dangerously high for three reasons:

• The quality of direct-care jobs is strenuous, stressful & poorly rewarded.
• The full-employment economy offers better job alternatives.
• Post-Baby Boom demographics in the United States have created a “care gap” that will worsen over the next 30 years.

High rates of staff vacancies and turnover harm all three “key stakeholders” within long-term care:

Impact on Consumers (and their families):  Because of the emerging “care gap” care becomes, inadequate, unsafe, and, in some cases, causes denial of care.

Impact on Employers: Staff vacancies and high turnover create high recruitment and orientation costs, high retention costs, high separation costs, high temporary replacement costs, and foregone sales revenues.

Impact on Workers: “Working short” means higher rates of injuries, higher levels of stress and frustration, and less training and supervisory support. The result is a spiral of instability: a growing exodus of Direct Care Workers that leaves behind a workplace that is ever less attractive to potential new staff. 

The newly founded Arizona Direct Care Worker Association (ADCWA) has been created to address these critical issues. United with the national Direct Care Alliance, we are working together to ensure that Arizona has a stable, valued, well trained workforce to serve individuals who need long-term care and services.  The ADCWA, a not for profit 501 (c) (3) membership and advocacy organization, is based in Tucson, Arizona.  Our members consist of Direct Care Workers who are supported by long-term care employers, consumers of care and services, government, and donors.

Vision: A community in which all professional Direct Care Workers are honored and valued for their dedication, passion, and commitment to improving the lives of our communities’ most vulnerable citizens and loved ones.

Mission: To honor, value and empower Direct Care Workers by providing a voice to communicate the needs, concerns and issues of the workforce, influencing public policy and securing benefits.

Arizona Direct Care Worker Association’s goals include:

• Public Education and Awareness –Educating the general public, consumers, and policy makers to the crisis facing the long-term care industry and the existing obstacles the direct care worker faces which stand in the way of recruiting and retaining qualified Direct Care Workers.
• Public Perception of the Direct Care Worker – Promoting the value and significant contribution of the work of the Direct Care Worker and enhancing the desirability and opportunities for this career path. Provide members with opportunities for professional growth.
• Membership Services – Providing membership services to professional Direct Care Workers. Such as, continuing education, financial education programs, and other services that will enhance the quality of their lives and improve recruitment and retention of Direct Care Workers.
• Quality of Long-Term Care and Services – Improving the quality of care provided by the Direct Care Workforce. Identifying and working on issues that need to be addressed by public policy.

VALUING AND EMPOWERING THOSE WHO SERVE