Artwork by Ernesto Yerena.
While agriculture consumes more land and gets more notice, health care employs more people and represents a bigger piece of Fresno’s economy. But just as access to health care is profoundly unequal, so are pay and working conditions in health jobs. And the pandemic and health facility closures, as with Madera Community Hospital, have added to the stresses and insecurities of working in health care. How can we improve the security, work, and health of all caregivers and other workers—clerks, janitors, subcontractors—who toil in health institutions? What ideas do workers themselves have for enhancing health care, both for patients and caregivers? And how can we elevate the importance of the fast-growing, lower-income jobs in this sector—like nursing assistants and home health care workers?
Public health professor Helda Pinzón-Perez, health care workforce researcher Janette Dill, and in-home supportive services provider Martha Valladarez visit Zócalo on site in Fresno to discuss how to build a healthier health care workforce.
Zócalo invites our in-person audience to continue the conversation with our speakers and each other at a post-event reception with complimentary drinks and small bites.
Live simultaneous ASL and Spanish translation of the discussion will be provided.
“What Is a Good Job Now?” is a series supported by The James Irvine Foundation, focusing on workers in the low-wage sectors of California’s economy, in communities across the state. Public programs and essays, grounded in workers’ experiences and realities, will explore how to make the hardest jobs more rewarding, and make life better for those who do them.
Featured Speakers:
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Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado
KVPR’s News Director
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Helda Pinzón-Perez
Public Health Professor
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Janette Dill
Health Care Workforce Researcher
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Martha Valladarez
Health Care Advocate
The Takeaway
Better Health Care Starts with Better Health Care Jobs
The Industry Needs Higher Wages, More Paid Leave, and Pathways to Advancement
The most important healthcare workers in this country—entry-level workers who do the caregiving and provide preventive services—are often paid poverty-level wages and provided insufficient benefits and supports, said panelists at …
More Events in this Series
“What Is a Good Job Now?” In Agriculture
Details to be announced soon! Register to receive updates. The advance of technology and the decline of immigration have profoundly changed the nature of agricultural work. But toiling in the fields remains difficult and dangerous, even as it requires more mechanical expertise from workers. And agricultural work remains seasonal, forcing repeated relocations and putting financial and housing pressures on working …