A Human Care Crisis That Could Affect You

It's all about our health system which starts with Hospitals, Doctors, Nurses and ends with Direct Personal Care Service Providers

First, please know that I do not publish Articles of a Scientific, Medical, Legal, Financial, Academic or Political nature. My Articles are of a neighborly conversational nature based on decades as an advocate for human care and as a unpaid volunteer service provider of human care.

I am speaking of human care for our seriously physically handicapped, our intellectually/developmentally disabled, our mentally ill, our very frail elderly.

In other words, people who cannot take care of themselves without hands-on care.

I speak of those who provide the very personal services such as, but not always, toileting, bathing, dressing, feeding, managing their medications, etc., all the things most people can do on their own and they do it in the family home or in a facility, like Camp Venture, Jawonio, ARC.

The reader can imagine the seriousness and sensitivity of the above. It should also be noted that as people live longer lives than our previous generations, the process creates disabling problems and most victims would preferred when necessary, to receive necessary Direct Personal Care Services in their own home rather than in a Nursing Home.

This profession is a 24 hours a day - 7 days a week - 52 weeks a year necessity, not just weekdays. Moreover, the Care Receiver is often totally dependent and can never be alone. And the Care Giver is more than a Service Provider, they become the Care Receivers' Surrogate family, friend and guardian.

Based on what they are paid, one must think the job does not require much skill or labor.

Certainly, our Government thinks this. The average salary of aCare Provider is not a living wage, or a wage robust enough to support a family and less than many other far less important services.

But my experience and common sense tells me something else. In fact the opposite is more true and much riskier. One misstep cannot only get one fired or one can be accused of a serious serious mistake or oversight with serious serious consequences.

Ergo, my reason for writing this is my hope that everyone will ask our State Government to raise the priority of the issue from below Minimum Wage to a Living Wage for this profession. Many of the folks who are providing the PERSONAL CARE are women in the minority category and many are single parents who must work a second job even when they work different shifts, so if the wage issue is elevated, the CARE givers can have dignity and justice and a kinder life and our culture made more humanitarian and sensible. It will also reduce costly turn-over.

This cohort of our health system is unjust and exploitive. We all see our Government acting so strongly for so many cohorts of our populations without regard for the very necessary and noble mission of human care for the helpless.