josh
Occupied
Posts: 77
|
Post by josh on Oct 25, 2011 22:33:00 GMT -7
I think that something we should be advocating for is the creation of a financing source to provide business loans to groups of people wanting to start a cooperative enterprise. I was thinking maybe the unions could be talked into investing some of their pension funds in such a scheme, rather than giving their members' money to the wall street crooks. I don't know what their retirement funds look like right now, I know the state pension funds are on the rocks. Another idea would be to get credit unions to create a joint reserve pool for making such loans. I know for a fact that a lot of hardworking intelligent people would jump at the chance to be part of a co-op, the only problem up till now (other than lack of education on economic alternatives) has been getting a loan for a co-op. But if we could use the energy of this movement to get a financing mechanism set up for co-ops, we could allow people to start putting themselves back to work.
I think cooperatives could work very well in the health care field, for a start. Having worked at a capitalist nursing home, I can attest that the people working there could run it better themselves, if they were given the chance. We need to start giving ourselves option to this broken economic system that we're stuck with. I think this is a good place to start that we can conceivably accomplish on a local level.
|
|
kim
Occupied
Posts: 82
|
Post by kim on Oct 26, 2011 11:43:20 GMT -7
As someone in the process of making a career change into nursing, with the ultimate goal of somehow not practicing in the existing and cringe-worthy profit model of medicine, your suggestion hits a bullseye!
I am extremely interested in cooperative or collective, worker-owned business models, and combining that model with medical care is actually my passion. Financing is of course always a big hurdle for starting a business.
Other hurdles around applying a new model to any part of the medical industry are 1) the regulation set up to protect us from the entrenched medical and insurance models, and 2) those providers themselves, both of which could prove to be significant barriers to forming any alternative. I look forward to talking more about your ideas!
|
|
josh
Occupied
Posts: 77
|
Post by josh on Oct 26, 2011 20:23:51 GMT -7
Kim, I used to work at one of our local Nursing Homes, as a lowly housekeeper albeit, but the problems were pretty clear to me. Under-staffing and under-paying are two biggies that a cooperative could help solve, both of which would greatly improve the quality of care provided for the clients.
As for dealing with the first of the problems that you mention, I would think that these hurdles can be overcome if "we" start out with people on board who are in the accounting and medical records fields already. I would envision getting a full staff organized before seeking any sort of loan, in which case you would already have people with the skill sets and knowledge to make sure that all regulations are being met. As for the second problem, I would just note that, as far as I know, all of the long-term care facilities here in Missoula are owned by Sage Corp., a large firm with lots of different real estate and commercial holdings besides just their nursing home facilities. The one exception that I know of is BeeHive Homes, which, I believe, is a non-profit.
Let's you and I keep talking and start talking with other people in the field that you know. The more heads working on this, the more likely that one of them will come up with something workable.
|
|
|
|
Post by tricia on Oct 29, 2011 11:57:04 GMT -7
your post speaks to me too, as a speech path. in the public schools paying union dues, but looking to go into business for myself someday, so I can create a model I believe in, I would like to know more about this venture, consider me part of this conversation.
Thanks for bringing it up,
Tricia
|
|
kim
Occupied
Posts: 82
|
Post by kim on Nov 1, 2011 20:49:49 GMT -7
I guess there are two ideas laid out in this post: Are we proposing creating a funding source, or designing a healthcare organization and then seeking out alternative funding sources? If we were to design the organization (e.g. write the business plan) and then push for alternative funding sources, would we be opening up possible channels for funding to other organizations of a similar model? I am intrigued by the second part. I think that exploring this topic will require quite a lot of business planning and organizing. Just a quick list, but for example: Research the Model: Explore cooperative/worker owned models and look for existing examples within the industry (might have to look outside this country if they don't exist here). How would health insurance figure into that? Is there a community health insurance model that another cooperative endeavor could take on?  As a side point, I lean towards the collective vs cooperative model, worker owned vs member owned, but in this case maybe cooperatively owned would create a sort of insurance policy in and of itself....just thinking out loud here. Write a business plan, based on the collective/cooperative model chosen. Identify Sources of Funding: Brainstorm and explore funding options, e.g. union connections, community credit unions? There are many government funding options, though I don't think this is the kind of funding we would necessarily want to seek (?). Bring together a healthcare team as burned out on the profits-uber-alles model as we are! -KB |
|
josh
Occupied
Posts: 77
|
Post by josh on Nov 6, 2011 13:20:06 GMT -7
I think this is an excellent idea and a good way to start. The only suggestion I would make would be to recruit the healthcare team FIRST, that should make the rest of the steps you laid out easier. I do not doubt that there are plenty of burned-out healthcare workers out there (I used to be one), it's just a matter of bringing folks together.
|
|
|
|
Post by ~kathlene~ on Nov 6, 2011 21:29:45 GMT -7
|
|
josh
Occupied
Posts: 77
|
Post by josh on Nov 7, 2011 21:16:47 GMT -7
|
|
josh
Occupied
Posts: 77
|
Post by josh on Nov 22, 2011 12:37:06 GMT -7
Kim and Trish: I've been in contact with a few of grad students working for Prof. Richard Wolff at the New School in NY. One of them, Joe, is apparently in the process of setting up a website with information and resources for people looking to start cooperatives. I gave them my take on why healthcare would be a good place to start and they are very supportive. I'll let you know when I get word that Joe has the website up.
I just started working as a home health aide again, after many years painting houses, and I'm thinking about trying to start a co-op of some sort here. Apparently the local nursing homes are atrocious (this from my client who spent six months at Evergreen, here in Bozo) and the one I almost applied to out in Belgrade had a starting wage of $8-9/hour! ("that's the going rate," the administrator told me...).
|
|
kim
Occupied
Posts: 82
|
Post by kim on Nov 22, 2011 21:09:06 GMT -7
HI Josh: That's awesome! Definitely keep us posted on how that goes, and I would love to see whatever material they are kicking out about cooperative enterprises over there! I am especially interested in collective models. We miss you here in Mizzoola, but glad to hear you're helping get things shaking in Bozeman!  Kim |
|
As a side point, I lean towards the collective vs cooperative model, worker owned vs member owned, but in this case maybe cooperatively owned would create a sort of insurance policy in and of itself....just thinking out loud here.