Purpose:  To help provide consistent care options for Families or Individuals with limited waiver dollars, who have otherwise struggled to find reliable Agency or Provider care in the past.

 

Program Description:   THS recognizes the growing number of Individuals in the State of Ohio with limited waiver funding (4 – 20 hours per week), that have been unable to find a reliable care worker or Agency Provider.  Quite often, shorter hours and shifts make it hard to find competency and continuity in a Staff member, as well as make it hard to retain great Staff that are found.  This high degree of turnover leads to a familiar cycle of problems for the Family, Individual and Agency:

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1. Agency Providers face a number of issues when it comes to Staffing shorter shifts or a low number of hours per week:

   1. Shorter shifts increase the transportation costs for Staff working those shifts (more driving for shorter hours), and means more shifts are needed per week to get full-time hours

   2. Because of the difficulty in Staffing a short shift, there is usually high turnover for such shifts – increasing hiring costs (for new Staff), as well as management time needed to find and train such replacements

   3. The low number of weekly hours, coupled with the high management costs often means a financial loss for the Agency Provider – resulting in very few Providers who are willing to take on such cases

 

1. The Family of the Individual needing care struggles to find a Provider or Agency to work the Individual at all.  If a Provider is found, there is often high turnover, and finding a consistent Staff member is rare.  There may be many new Staff members sent to the home to work, or there may be no coverage at all (depending on Staff availability). 

 

1. The Individual being served is forced to work with many different faces, all with varying degrees of competency, which makes it hard to find comfort or build relationships with care workers.