Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 85

Introduced by Senator Hall

(Principal coauthor: Senator Mendoza)

(Coauthors: Senators Lara, Leyva, and Mitchell)

August 17, 2015

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 85—Relative to the Nursing Home Caregiver Professionals and Long Term Care Provider Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 85, as introduced, Hall. Nursing Home Caregiver Professionals and Long Term Care Provider Month.

This measure would recognize the month of November 2015 as the Nursing Home Caregiver Professionals and Long Term Care Provider Month.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, There are 136,000 skilled nursing home
professionals in California, of which 47,000 workers deliver quality
institutional care to our most vulnerable residents, including
seniors, adults, and children with disabilities in California; and

WHEREAS, The number of seniors requiring long term care
will drastically increase as the number of Californians who are 65
years of age or older is estimated to grow to nine million people
in the next 15 years; and

WHEREAS, All nursing home residents deserve quality care
and their direct care professionals merit a safe working environment
to help individuals recover from surgery and heal from trauma;
and

WHEREAS, Nursing home caregivers provide essential services
to residents that maintain the highest practicable physical, mental,
and psychosocial well being of the people they serve; and

WHEREAS, A fundamental part of providing quality long term
care is having a sufficient number of direct care staff available to
build rapport with consumers and treat consumers in a dignified
manner; and

WHEREAS, The work of nursing home caregivers often goes
unnoticed, as do the financial struggles caregivers and their families
experience in order to provide this lifeline service to those in need;
and

WHEREAS, Increasing the number of nursing home caregivers
in facilities across the state is an integral part of quality care; and

WHEREAS, Providing long-term care workers with a living
wage will generate the demand for goods and services in the local
economy, stimulate increased employment opportunities, and drive
workers and their families one step closer to getting out of poverty;
now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the month of
November 2015 as Nursing Home Caregiver Professionals and
Long Term Care Provider Month, and that the Legislature stands
united with nursing home direct care professionals, acknowledging
the essential work and contributions they bring to counties and
cities of the state and supporting their efforts to lift themselves
and their communities out of poverty; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.