Byline: Claire Hughes -
TROY -- Northeast Health and the University at Albany School of Social Welfare have been awarded two state grants totaling more than $500,000 to develop initiatives to keep older health-care workers on the job.
The two organizations will look at ways to retain health-care workers 45 and older, said David Howells, director of planning for Northeast Health, which includes two area hospitals and The Eddy network of services for the elderly. Home care nurses, certified nurses aides, and technicians tend to leave the profession very early, and many go on to careers in other fields, he said.
``It is good if they move up within the health system,'' Howells said. ``But there are a lot of people we lose to other industries long before they reach age 45.''
Northeast and UAlbany plan two studies. One will look at how telemedicine, two-way video and computer networks, can improve schedules and job satisfaction for older nurses in home care. The other will seek to develop ways to retain various workers in their current positions.
