HRHCare Joins Living Wage Movement

Concerned about supporting its staff, including full- and part-time caregivers, Hudson River HealthCare will start paying all its employees at least $15 an hour.

CEO Ann Nolon said the organization wanted to stay close to its root values of community and opportunity, and paying staff members a living wage was a response to the national conversation about the importance of a living wage.

The nonprofit was founded 40 years ago by four women who wanted to bring health care to the underserved residents of Peekskill. It has since expanded in the Hudson Valley and also serves Suffolk County.

There are more than 900 people employed at HRHCare.

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The living wage movement is all about the amount a worker needs to meet minimum standards of living.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has even developed a Living Wage Calculator, which many businesses use to estimate the living wage in their community.

Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier of MIT recently offered the top reasons why businesses who have used the LWC said they did so:

• Because they can. Firms use the tool in instances where they feel they can afford to do so;
• They acknowledge the relationship between loyalty and compensation;
• They see the link between productivity and compensatory wage rates;
• Because it is the right thing to do;
• The owner has worked low wage jobs and knows how hard it is to make it on low wages;
• It is a worthy and moral practice.
• Because if people are paid more they spend more.
• Costs of living are out of sync with long term wage rates.

According to the MIT LWC, in a household of two adults and two children in Westchester County, the adults working full time would need to earn $18.96 an hour to support the household.

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Here’s HRHCare’s full statement:

Hudson River HealthCare, a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center that employs over 900 professionals and serves 140,000 patients at sites of care throughout the Hudson Valley and Suffolk County, today announced plans to institute a living wage of $15 an hour.

This announcement comes amid a growing national conversation around the importance of a living wage, including such increases in Seattle, Los Angeles, and for certain workers in New York State.

“Our health centers are only able to serve their communities because of hundreds of hard-working people doing dozens of different jobs. I’m thrilled to make this announcement in support of the high quality healthcare our staff render for our patients, clients and their families,” said Anne Kauffman Nolon, MPH, President and CEO of Hudson River HealthCare.

In the early 1970s, four women in Peekskill came together to address the lack of health care services in their community and founded the Peekskill Ambulatory Health Care Center. As the organization has expanded across the state into what is now known as HRHCare, the same values of community and opportunity have been retained. The announcement of a $15 an hour living wage for full and part time employees is the right step for HRHCare, supporting the workers who have made it known for high quality patient centered care.

“Each of our facilities is more than a health center – it’s an economic engine for its community,”Nolon added. “We’re a major employer around the state, and this means more people with greater spending power supporting other local businesses. We’re proud to make this important additional investment in our staff, and to help ensure that HRHCare is offering stable, well-paying jobs that help to strengthen our communities.”

PHOTO: HRHCare’s first community health center renovated, renamed in honor of one of its founders/contributed