FirstLight Home Care of West Suburban Boston’s President & Owner, Steve Stern, recently served on a panel of local business leaders at the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce’s “Supporting Our Global Workforce Forum.” The September 18th program, which took place at TripAdvisor headquarters in Needham, MA, attracted leaders in business, law, and activism and featured a speech from U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III.
With a predominantly foreign-born workforce, FirstLight is a passionate supporter of continued employment opportunities and quality of life improvements in our immigrant communities. During the panel program, Steve (pictured on far right) discussed the importance of immigrants to the home care industry, in general and the high-quality, dedication, and passion of FirstLight’s foreign-born, heavily-vetted, professional, employee caregivers. Steve also shared some of the day-to-day challenges which foreign-born caregivers face including child care, transportation, and housing.
“Four years ago, about a third of all the caregivers who we recruited to our care team, possessed a valid work authorization card. Today, we almost never see work authorizations which tells us that some wonderful, compassionate people who are so good at providing care, are no longer able to work. It is heartbreaking when they must leave our agency and their client and return to their home country–beyond losing top-notch care, an important relationship is lost. Many of our immigrant caregivers instantly form a bond with their clients, many of whom are seniors. The caregivers come from places where their cultures absolutely cherish seniors–and take great care of them–so they know how to provide the highest levels of care here. We are always amazed when we make an introduction of a caregiver to a client–and often a senior who is resistant to having someone in their house to help them–and these caregivers from immigrant communities just exude warmth and caring which is so disarming and breaks down the barriers.”
“If you look at the impact of what immigration reform and a humane immigration policy mean for our country, the economic case is open and shut,” said U.S. Rep. Kennedy.
“At this moment, employers are really challenged to hire. They’re challenged to hire all across the board, but our foreign-born talent adds so much to the diversity–to the opportunities,” said Greg Reibman, President of the Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce.
“What’s happening at the federal level [are] very harmful policies and attacks to the immigrant and refugee workforce,” said Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. “If immigrants and refugees are attacked and threatened, the businesses are suffering.”
FirstLight Home Care of West Suburban Boston is a voting member of the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA). This industry group is urging Congress to support immigration reform to address the caregiver needs of seniors. As the U.S. population ages, it is clear that the existing workforce will not be able to meet the personal care needs of seniors. In fact, the industry is expected to see a 34% increase in the demand for workers over the next decade–and shortages are already evident. Nationally, immigrants currently provide 27.5% of home care, despite the fact that they make up a much smaller percentage of the total population. Locally, this figure is as high as 90%.
The panel was moderated by Andrew Tarsy, Coordinator with the Massachusetts Business Immigration Coalition (pictured on the far left) and included Seana Gaherin, Owner, Dunn Gaherin’s Food & Spirits (second from left), Reinier Moquete, CEO of the cyber security software and consulting firm, Advoqt Technology (third from left), and finally Steve (far right).
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