Pennsylvania’s home care workers deserve livable wages and agency accountability • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

By Joy Darden

I start each morning with my godmother with prayer. Then I cook and feed her, give medication, and assist with physical therapy. I make her breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks, tend to her wound care morning and night, bathe and wash her clothes, help her with all the things she forgets due to her dementia. I turn her every two hours to prevent bed sores. I do all her shopping for necessities like food, medicine and toiletries. I have been her primary caregiver for 18 years.

I am one of the more than 100,000 home care workers in the state of Pennsylvania who believes our loved ones should have more access to care services in the home, not less.

But with only one out of every six residents receiving home care who need it, we must address this crisis. Low wages and lack of benefits have led to this acute workforce shortage.

Right now, most caregivers in Pennsylvania earn about $13 an hour, which is poverty-level wages. When I was in my 20s I planned to go back to school for political science and theology. Instead I started taking care of my godmother and now I’m 50. I gave up my career to do this work. I’ll go on my husband’s pension, I have no career to fall back on after this. I gave up so much of my life to do this work.

Many of us cannot afford to have a sick day, since they are unpaid. We receive no health insurance or retirement for the work — often decades of work — we do in service to our communities, so I’m grateful to have a 401k through my husband. We deserve training, and support from our elected leaders, and we will not stop until justice is served to us.

I believe that $15 for caregivers — and a path to $20 — must include agency accountability. The state currently spends $5 billion per year on home care, and the vast majority of that care is delivered through Pennsylvania’s network of over 1,300 home care agencies. Unfortunately, due to lack of transparency and accountability for this funding, it is unclear how this money is being spent — and much of it may not be spent on care.

My godmother was a librarian for the Carnegie Library for 34 years, and was a respected member of the church and community. When she was stricken with multiple sclerosis 18 years ago, she was treated like a third-class citizen by pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and doctors. That is when I had to become an advocate to ensure she gets the care that she needs and deserves.

I stand with many others in calling on Gov. Shapiro and the legislature to address the crisis in home care now. It is the right thing to do for workers and our aging residents who want to rely on high-quality care in the home for as long as possible.

Our aging population should be able to rely on independent care in the home and for home care workers to be able to live freer, fuller and better lives.

I am fighting for my godmother, myself and all members of our communities who deserve independence, fair wages and dignity.

Joy Darden is a home care worker in Pittsburgh. She has been caring for her godmother, who has multiple sclerosis, for more than 18 years. She is a wife and mother of two adult children.

Originally published at penncapital-star.com,by Special to the Capital-Star