AN INNOVATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR BUILDING RURAL CAREGIVER WORKFORCE AND CAPACITY: THE ARKANSAS AND OKLAHOMA STORY

The need is rapidly growing for more quality caregivers, both family caregivers and paid direct care workers. Just in the last ten years (2007–2017), the long-term care industry alone created 1.5 million jobs, including more than one million direct care jobs. Four out of five of those long-term care jobs were in the home care industry with that base growing by over 800,000. Another 1.8 million jobs are expected to be created in the next ten years with 1.2 million of them being in direct care. In Arkansas the growth of personal care aids over that past ten years was over 250% with Oklahoma increasing almost 25% (PHI, 2018). Therefore a multipronged approach is needed to meet this critical demand. Both Arkansas and Oklahoma have been recipients of grants from the Donald W. Reynolds foundation to address this dire issue. During these grant periods (from 2009), both states have developed caregiver training programs that use the Schmieding Curriculum. Together they have conducted over 1750 caregiving classes and trained almost 10,000 direct care workers including over 2500 family caregivers. Over the past several years, AR and OK have not only developed programs and graduated thousands of workers, but they have networked with the state, regional, and local stakeholders that are also concerned about supporting caregiving for older adults, both at home and in diverse long-term-care settings. This presentation will discuss the details of a collaborative network and infrastructure that supports caregivers in very rural states.