MDHHS announces $50,000 grant

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct 22, 2020

CONTACT: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112, SutfinL1@michigan.gov

MDHHS announces $50,000 grant for direct
care worker infection control training

­­­­­LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) today announced a partnership with IMPART Alliance at Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine to develop infection control training for direct care workers. MDHHS has provided IMPART Alliance $50,000 in COVID Relief Funding to develop the training and make it widely available for direct care workers (DCW) providing home and community-based services.

IMPART Alliance will develop a comprehensive Infection Control curriculum for training all direct care workers and family caregivers. MDHHS, IMPART Alliance and others will widely distribute the training to increase access and skills for the caregivers. The training will be free of charge and available in December 2020.

“While certified nursing assistant courses are required for direct care workers who work in nursing facilities, similar training is not universally required for home and community-based services programs,” said Kate Massey, senior deputy director of MDHHS’ Medical Services Administration. “Without proper training on infection control, direct care workers could unknowingly transfer COVID-19 or other infectious diseases from client to client, and put themselves, their families and the greater community at risk.”

IMPART Alliance is a coalition of researchers, direct care workers, providers, clients, advocates and agencies. The organization works to develop a competent home care workforce and improve the lives of direct care workers and the clients they serve. IMPART Alliance strives to address multiple components of workforce development including building on the evidence-based training program Building Training…Building Quality^TM, establishing a DCW professional association and founding a highly diverse statewide coalition charged with determining feasible win-win strategies for ensuring a high-quality DCW workforce.

For more information on IMPART Alliance, visit at Impartalliance.org.

Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.