Franklin – This past Friday, February 15, Executive Councilor Mike Cryans attended the Franklin VNA & Hospice’s Meet Your Representative event. The series is a chance for anyone to meet their representative and talk healthcare. Attendees included Michael Foss, Chief/Emergency Management Director for Franklin Fire Department, Cheryl Barnes, Director of Nursing at Peabody Home and member of the National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration, Glen Badger, an eldercare advisor, and many Franklin VNA & Hospice staff.

The event began with Councilor Cryans giving an overview of his role as a new Executive Councilor.   Each Councilor represents 20% of the population with Cryans representing the state from its most northern town of Pittsburg down to Claremont, Andover, Hill, Sanbornton, Tilton, Laconia, and Gilford, all the way across to Milton. A diverse area which includes businesses from ski areas to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

A major topic of conversation was the need for a living wage for healthcare workers such as Licensed Nursing Assistants.

Executive Director of Franklin VNA & Hospice, Tabitha Dowd advocated for the need for better pay and benefits to attract people to caregiving jobs, “So it’s how can we strategically still be viable and sustainable in the future to provide these needed services to the community, but pay them a fair wage? I think this is where the Executive Councilor comes in. As these bills are brought forward by the legislators and you sit down and appropriate these funds, this is something that is a need, not just in our area but the whole state of New Hampshire.”

Cheryl Barnes, Director of Nursing at Peabody Home, highlighted the need to act now to attract caregivers. “The average rate of aging is now 78-82.  One in Two people at the age of 85 will have dementia; the other person will be their caregiver.”

Framing her comments in the context of the Baby Boomer generation, one of the largest in American History with 76 million Baby Boomers, who began to retire in 2011 through 2030, it is clear that we need to work to attract many more workers to this industry to help care for this wave of seniors.

All were in agreement that services to allow seniors to stay in their homes longer than they would be able to without them, such as the Choices for Independence Program and visiting nurse services, were a huge benefit to quality of life of those seniors, in addition to being a substantial cost saving.

Cryans ended the question session by thanking the group, “I’ve certainly received a lot!”
As he headed out with staff nurse Deborah Richards to visit a patient, Dowd thanked him for his time and noted, “We know we have a friend now, we can reach out to.”

You have a choice in your homecare provider. Choose local. Choose Franklin VNA & Hospice.