President’s Corner
Hi, my name is Cristal DeJarnac and I’m your new President of Homecare. Over the past 6 years that I have been in member leadership, I have been working diligently behind the scenes to fix worker issues and to hold the state accountable. Some have accused me of drinking the purple Kool-Aid, and that I am just a “yes man” for SEIU 503. Well, I’m here to tell you the reality is, yes, even though I do like purple Kool-Aid, I’m nobody’s yes man, and I’m not one to be micromanaged either. I stand up and fight for our workers every chance I get, and in every setting I’m in.
Whether that be at the Bargaining Table, or in meetings with our Union and the OHCC, where we work together to resolve Grievances resulting from Contract violations, pay issues, and health and safety issues. Or at the Joint Labor / Management Committee meetings, with our Union, the OHCC, ODHS, ODDS, and OHA. That’s where we work together with all these State agencies, to problem solve all the other issues outside of Contract violations. We work on improving standards to support our workforce, and to help make things better for you and our Consumers too.
We’ve worked together with our Union and the OHCC to make the OHCC website more user friendly, along with creating the new Pay Issue Claim form (purple button) and the new Health and Safety claim form (dark blue button) on the their website, we’ve worked with them to create a more informative Elevate newsletter too.
We’re currently working with our Union and all the State agencies on creating a new “PEMS” system for a Universal Provider Number, that’s one Provider Number that will be used across all Provider types, HCW, PSW and PCA. We’re building this from the ground up and mapping out what it will look like and what things it will support.
The dream, is that PEM’s will be a “one-stop shop”, where someone can go to apply to become a Provider, (regardless of what type), get their background check ordered and be able to track these processes along the way. It will also, possibly be able to send out reminders of any certifications that are coming up for renewal too. There will be another version of this system for use by the private agencies as well. Unfortunately, this won’t be available until probably 2026, but like anything, it takes time to develop and get it right.
I would like to introduce you to our Homecare Executive Committee:
President: Cristal DeJarnac – Bend
Vice-President: Diana Evens – Cottage Grove
Secretary/Treasurer: Patty Falkenstein – Tigard
HCW Chief Steward: Steve Shumate – Portland
PSW Chief Steward: Loril Eaton – Yachats
Immediate Past-President: Joy’e Willman – Portland
I would personally like to thank each of them for their dedication and commitment to our collective Homecare Workforce.
This weekend will be our first in-person Homecare Council meeting with the newly elected Homecare Council. Some of the things we will be going over are the Action plans for our upcoming Bargaining Campaign and what is going on in each of our 9 Districts.
Its in all these venues that I, along with our Homecare Executive Team, have been and will continue to be the voice of our Providers, and sometimes that means a very loud voice. We are all very committed to the growth and betterment of our Workforce.
Watch for more articles from me each month in the President’s Corner. It’s here where I will keep you up to date on what’s happening within Homecare. My goal is to have open communication and be as transparent as possible with you all.
Lastly, I want to leave you with these sentiments;
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.
Charles Dickens
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else.
Judy Garland