Two recent Come Care With Me Days in Pennsylvania garnered media attention in the state.
Representative Mark Longietti
Representative Mark Longietti of Mercer County shadowed direct-care worker Debbie Smith in a group home setting which houses four individuals with mental retardation and additional health complications. In talking about the importance of direct-care workers, Longietti said, “We need them to be here to work and take care of you, and they need to have health care so that they can do this job.” Continue reading ‘Come Care with Me Program Garners Media Attention’
Rep. Matt Smith and Mrs. Dombrowski
On Monday, state Representative Matt Smith (D-Allegheny) participated in the third Come Care With Me day as part of a program sponsored by the PA Health Care for Health Care Workers Campaign. Rep. Smith shadowed direct care worker Faith Buckel as she provided routine in-home care for consumer Ann Dombrowski. Dombrowski, age 90, suffers from pulmonary disease COPD and Dementia.
Three times a week, Buckel assists Mrs. Dombrowski with such day-to-day tasks as bathing, housekeeping and meal preparation. Dombroski’s family, who noted the strong relationship between Mrs. Dombroski and her caregiver, said that they can’t imagine what they would do without Buckel’s help. Unfortunately, within the year, they might be facing the unimaginable. Continue reading ‘“Come Care with Me” Program Highlights Impact of Health Coverage’
Cindy Ramer
Last week, Newsweek highlighted the story of Cindy Ramer, a direct-care worker from Iowa, in an article about the high number of American workers who lack health insurance.
Cindy, a long-time certified nursing asssistant (and an active member of the Iowa Caregivers Association and the HCHCW campaign), is currently uninsured after her employer canceled the company’s health insurance plan several years ago.
Instead of seeing a doctor, Cindy now goes to free screenings and health fairs in order to find care. Cindy, like a lot of uninsured American workers, is willing to pay for health coverage but is unable to find a plan that is affordable and comprehensive. Continue reading ‘Newsweek Profiles Direct Care Worker in Story on Uninsured’
I work as a direct care worker for the Passavant Retirement Community Assisted Living Facility and have health insurance through my employer. Even though I have health insurance, it does not cover most of the prescriptions I need to stay healthy. For example, I had to change my doctor and four of my prescriptions because the insurance I get through my employer will only allow me to get certain prescriptions. The new prescriptions I got didn’t work nearly as well as the old ones, and I had to still pay $50 dollars out of pocket for each prescription. That is an extra $200 dollars a month. Continue reading ‘My health care is still unaffordable – even with insurance’
I am a divorced mother of three girls and a grandmother of two. I turn 52 in January. Some of you may find that too young to be a grandmother, but I am lucky I can actually run with my grandchildren. I have a few gray hair in my head. I haven’t decided if I will dye my hair when I have more then 10 or leave it alone. I love how mixed gray looks on other people so I can’t wait to see myself like this one day. I am the face of direct-care workers.
In 2003, I lost my job with HUD. I always had been gainfully employed so healthcare was never a question. Cobra was offered to me but the cost once unemployed was out of the question. Around the time I lost my job, I started helping my youngest daughter and her friends when they needed care for their children, and before long I was running a day care center from my home. I loved working at home because I could now help my own mother, who is physically disabled.
Then taking care of my mother became my full time job. I am paid to give complete care for my mother through the Delaware County Services for the Aging.
I love caring for and helping people. I honestly think I am great at it. But I have recently begun to think maybe, for my own welfare, I should go out and seek other employment because I need health care. I can’t go to the doctor when I need to, and I am worried if I get sick or hurt that no one will be there to take care of my mother and my children.
Health insurance would cost me $450 dollars a month. I am not making enough money to afford anything even close to that. I am torn between getting a job outside of my house to get health insurance and staying home to take care of my mother, who needs me. I do not want to put my mother into a nursing home. She wants to stay at home where she is comfortable; where she has lived for so many years.
I never thought I would have to choose between my own health and the health of my loved ones.
Melva Williams
Home Care Aide
Media, PA
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