Michigan State University received much-needed funding to address the state’s critical shortage of direct care workers. Those are the people who provide long-term care and support to people with disabilities or older adults.
“You need to be compassionate, you need to be empathetic and you need to have a lot of patience,” said Kelli Ohnstad, a direct care worker.
Helping those in need maintain as much independence as possible. An important job that is lacking staff.
“We have approximately 175 to 190 thousand direct care workers in the state right now we need 36 thousand more,” said Clare Luz, Executive Director of the Impart Alliance.