In July 2025, Maine’s Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) commissioned the Consortium for Aging Policy Research & Analysis (CAPRA) to do a program evaluation of the Direct Care and Support Professional Advisory Council (AC). This report contains a wonderful summary of the issues and the efforts to date to support and grow this workforce as well as a thorough evaluation of how well the first three years of the AC’s existence has advanced its stated goals.
The voice of the worker comes through in quotes throughout the report:
“So it was exciting, just thinking that maybe I could have a voice and share the passion for taking care of people, and what an amazing gift that is for us that we’re being entrusted to take care of other human beings and see them flourish.”
“I think mostly it has been camaraderie. And being able to talk to people like minded, because we’re all invested in the care of people and being able to have each other’s support and know that [they’re] there, you know. But what I’ve gotten out of it is knowing that there are still people like myself who really care about what we’re doing and want to see people living quality lives.”
Brenda Gallant & Nicole Marchesi of LTCOP are praised for their vision and implementation in the “Key Take Aways” section:
“The fact that LTCOP could have an idea for the Council at T-1 and just a few months later at T-2 have the support of experts around the state, the commitment for funding, a contract for training and support from PHI, and a plan for recruitment outreach, speaks to LTCOP’s credibility, trustworthiness, long-standing expertise, and its reputation for success in policy, programming, and project undertakings.”