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Roots of our Current Campaigns: Long-term Care Concerns Campaign #1: Health Care for Everyone Campaign #2: Launching the Mid Maine Time Bank Building a Capital Region Chapter

Roots of our Current Campaigns: Long-term Care Concerns

Since the Spring of 2006, KVO has made it a top priority to address the crisis of long-term care and personal assistance for elderly and disabled community members in the Kennebec Valley. This priority emerged after hearing stories from consumers, family members, providers, and frontline direct care workers about the barriers they faced providing and obtaining high-quality care.

In the Fall of 2007, KVO organized a campaign of round-table discussions that brought together more than 100 people affected by long-term care to share their stories and prioritize concerns. From more than 30 top concerns that emerged in a dozen round tables, there were clearlytwo overarching priorities:

• Improve care by improving the pay, benefits and recognition of direct care workers;

• Support consumers and caregivers (paid and unpaid) through education, awareness, and cooperative initiatives.

To address the first priority, KVO joined the statewide Direct Care Worker Coalition (DCWC) in seeking concrete ways to improve the pay and benefits for the direct care workers who play such a critical, hands-on role in the care of our elderly and disabled. With the DCWC, KVO leaders worked hard for the passage of L.D. 1687, "An Act to Increase Health Insurance Coverage for Front-line Direct Care Workers Providing Long-term Care." When the measure failed to pass in the last legislative session, KVO leaders decided that the best chance to provide health care for health care workers was to fight for HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE.

To address the second priority, KVO leaders discovered a model right in our own state: Time Banking. Read below to learn more about how KVO is working to launch the Mid Maine Time Bank, based on a national model and with the assistance of the Portland Time Bank.

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Campaign #1: Health Care for All

After the defeat of a modest plan to get a small number of direct care workers covered by health insurance, it is clear that deeper changes are needed in our health care system. The best chance of getting health care for these vulnerable workers is to work toward a system that can ensure health care for everyone.

The KVO Health Care Team has initiated a 3-phase plan to begin our Health Care for All action campaign.

Phase 1: Our Health Care Story Meetings

KVO member groups organized small, round table-style meetings throughout the months of May and June. These gatherings provided a chance for people to share their personal experiences with health care, and reflect on the values they and their institutions bring to the question of reform. Each meeting reached consensus around the declaration, "Everyone deserves the opportunity to have quality, affordable health care."

Click here to read the personal stories that were gathered through these meetings. Read more about the Our Health Care Story meetings here.

Phase 2: Special Delegates Assembly on Health Care

On June 18th, KVO leaders and allies gathered to report from the Our Health Care Story meetings, learn about current health care system from policy experts and advocates, and decide on guiding principles for the KVO health care campaign.

Click here to read about the assembly, and the principles of health care reform that KVO adopted.

Phase 3: Candidates Forum on Health Care

On September 28, 2008, K VO will present our health care agenda to legislative candidates and ask them how they would work to support our health care goals if elected.

KVO will continue working beyond the fall of 2008 to ensure that everyone has access to quality, affordable health care. Want to be a part of it? Check out the calendar page to find out about upcoming events, or contact KVO Lead Organizer Dan Koehler to find out how you can help the KVO Health Care Team.

Campaign #2: Launching the Mid Maine Time Bank

In our central Maine communities, long term care is not just about professional health care. In our round tables, we heard a strong desire to strengthen the local support networks that allow families and communities to “care for their own”, and for frail elderly to remain in their homes for as long as possible.

Time Banking is a wonderful model for this vision. Time Banking is about individuals using their skills to enhance their lives, save cash dollars and build relationships. The concept is simple: for every hour of service you provide to a Time Bank member you earn one Time Dollar which you can spend on services provided by other Time Bank members.

For example, a homebound senior can earn time dollars by teaching knitting lessons, which she can then spend getting a volunteer to drive her on errands. The errand driver can spend his time dollars to get another time bank member to help paint his house, and so on. In some existing Maine time banks, hundreds of members exchange thousands of hours of service with each other every month.

The Mid Maine Time Bank was launched with a successful kick-off event on June 8th in Fairfield. MMTB already has 60 members and a directory of over 50 different skills and services on offer.

Want to learn more about Time Banking? Click here to see our informational flyer.

Or, to learn about our sister time bank and technical advisors, visit:

http://www.mainetimebanks.org

For more information about the Mid Maine Time Bank or to join, contact MMTB Coordinator Joe Rowden at 314-4720.

Download the MMTB Member Handbook.

Download a MMTB Membership Application.

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Building the Capital Region Chapter

KVO is working with pastors and clergy leaders in the Augusta area to build a capital region chapter. These leaders are building relationships across potential divides, learning about KVO's model of faith- and values-based organizing, and discussing the possibility for forming a new chapter that would conduct its own listening campaign and initiate a local action campaign around an issue of particular importance to families in the Augusta area.

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