Health4all : Direct Service Workers Survey

Health4all

Every year more Alaskan families lose health insurance and can't afford health care. Every year more families with health insurance cannot afford to use it because of expensive out-of-pocket charges. Every year more Alaskan elders with Medicare are refused treatment by local physicians. And every year health care in Alaska continues to cost 30 percent more than down south. These problems are a reflection of the crisis across the nation. Not surprisingly, the United States ranks last in preventable deaths compared to 14 Western European nations. We have a lot to talk about.

Lawrence D. Weiss retired from UAA in 2004 as a research professor in public health. He designed and built the Master of Public Health program at UAA, and has published three books and numerous articles on public health and health policy issues. He completed a post-doctoral degree at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, and has been in Alaska ever since. His favorite expression is "facts matter." Occasionally he can be found in a local pub drinking beer and eating pizza while engaged in passionate conversation with friends.

Direct Service Workers Survey

Posted by health4all

Posted: February 20, 2009 - 2:51 pm

Wage and benefit levels play a critical role in both the recruitment and retention of direct service workers. The Wages and Benefits subcommittee of the Mental Health Trust Authority Workforce Development Initiative is conducting a survey of direct service workers to develop a profile of what employment benefits are most important to them and which of these is most related to retention.

The purpose of the survey is to target advocacy efforts with the state and legislature to increase wages and benefits of the direct service workforce. Survey participants will be entered into a drawing to win one of forty $25 gift cards.

DEADLINE is MARCH 6, 2009

For a PDF version of the survey, click here.

The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. Results will be summarized and posted on Alaska Alliance for Direct Service Careers' website at (www.aadsc.org). If you wish to receive a copy directly, please email Karen Ward at afkmw@uaa.alaska.edu. Follow-up surveys may be conducted to evaluate the impact of any increase in wages and benefits.

If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact: Karen Ward afkmw@uaa.alaska.edu with the Center for Human Development, or Tom Chard thomas.chard@alaska.gov with the Alaska Mental Health Board/Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

posted by K.L., ACPP Project Coordinator