www.ohca.com SPRING/SUMMER 2022 The Oregon Caregiver 21 DATA & RESEARCH communities have long confronted a workforce shortage, especially of licensed staff, such as certified medication aides (CMAs). Individuals and families in these communities must often travel great distances to obtain health and long term care services. Understanding the demographic trends of Oregon’s rural and frontier communities is essential to ensuring equitable care provision across all geographies. A high percentage of Oregon’s older LGBTQ+ population report living in Table 1: Demographics of Oregon Long Term Care Residents Assisted Living and Residential Care Memory Care Communities Nursing Facilities Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.0% 1.0% 1.5% Native American or Alaskan Native 1.0% 0.0% 0.5% Asian 1.0% 1.0% 1.2% Black or African American 1.0% 1.0% 1.8% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% White 91.0% 90.0% 82.2% Two or more races 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% Other or unknown 5.0% 7.0% 12.6% Totals 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Carder et all (2020) Portland State University and Mendez-Luck et al. (2020) Oregon State University. Table 2: Demographics of Oregon Long Term Care Workforce Assisted Living and Residential Care In-Home Care Nursing Facilities Totals Hispanic or Latino (any race) 15.0% 10.0% 14.0% 13.0% Asian or Pacific Islander 6.0% 5.0% 8.0% 8.0% Black or African American 3.0% 3.0% 7.0% 6.0% White 69.0% 77.0% 65.0% 69.0% Other race 7.0% 4.0% 6.0% 5.0% Source: PHI. Workforce Data Center. Last updated September 2, 2021. congregate settings such as senior housing (6 percent), assisted living facilities (3 percent), adult foster homes (3 percent), and nursing facilities (3 percent). Older LGBTQ+ Oregonians, however, often face barriers to obtaining long term care and experience high levels of discrimination. The Oregon LGBTQ+ Older Adult Survey Report (2021) is an excellent source of data, which provides insight into the long term care needs of older LGBTQ+ Oregonians. Read about the survey on page 23. Efforts to provide more equitable care to an increasingly diverse population who needs long term care should be based on good data. Yet, gaps remain within the available data on who uses and who provides long term care in Oregon. Filling those gaps is essential to obtaining a more complete picture of current need in Oregon as well as for the decades ahead. Walt Dawson is an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University and a senior Atlantic fellow with the Global Brain Health Institute.
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