How To Help ATHC

All Things Home Care with Dana Arnone, RN

Update about our fight for Fair Pay 4 Home Care (Bill A6329/S5374)

As so many of us already know, people in need of home care are struggling all over the state. As of July 1, fast food workers saw a well-deserved increase to $15 per hour; yet, home care workers did not receive the same recognition despite their role as essential workers who continue to save lives during this pandemic! The low wages make it difficult for seniors and disabled people to recruit and retain workers and difficult for the workers to survive. Something has to change.

The great news is the Fair Pay 4 Home Care bill will raise wages to 150% of the minimum wage ($22.50 hourly) and generate about 7.6 billion dollars in increased income tax and sales tax collection and public benefits savings, according to analysis by the CUNY School for Labor and Urban Studies.

We need you to contact key senator Anna Kaplan (D-7) and let her know that Fair Pay 4 Home Care matters to you.

Her email is [email protected] and her key staffer, Joe Erdman can be reached at [email protected]. Please BCC me on your message: [email protected].

Use the below form letter as a guide and personalize it according to your needs. When we all fight together, we will win!

Dana Arnone, RN – Call To Action

Topic: Call to Action & Letter to Elected Officials

*******************SAMPLE LETTER*******************

 

Dear Senator Kaplan:

My name is [NAME] and I live in [TOWN/CITY]. I am writing in solidarity with Caring Majority, a grassroots movement of older adults, disabled folks, home care workers, and family caregivers, about the increasingly urgent issue of home care services on Long Island. Home care workers are essential workers and the pandemic illustrated for all the vital contributions of home care aides. They support people with disabilities and elders in our communities, ensuring that those they serve stay out of costly institutions and receive quality care in their own homes.

Despite their crucial role, home care workers are poorly paid, with about half living in or near poverty. Demand is only growing for home care workers, with a projected 780,000 job openings expected by 2028. Yet, New York State remains unprepared to fill these positions because folks simply can’t afford to take such low wage jobs. Turnover is high and recruitment is difficult for consumers who literally rely on such services to survive. [1-2 SENTENCES PERSONAL CONNECTION]. Nearly 80% of this workforce is composed of immigrants, 90% are female, and over 80% are people of color. Investment in home care is a racial, gender, and immigration justice issue that we cannot afford to leave unaddressed.

That’s why we need your support and co-sponsorship for Bill S5374, Fair Pay 4 Home Care.

The bill will increase home care wages to 150% of the minimum wage ($22.50 per hour) and allow our home care workers to make a living wage reflective of their honorable work. From an economic development standpoint, Fair Pay 4 Home Care would wipe out the worker shortage within 5 years and generate about $7.6 billion dollars in increased income tax and sales tax collection and public benefits savings, according to analysis by the CUNY School for Labor and Urban Studies.

The Fair Pay 4 Home Care Act is an economic and moral imperative as well as a tangible way to recognize the indispensable labor of the home health workforce. These essential workers need more than platitudes and awareness weeks in return for their life-saving work.

I hope you will co-sponsor Bill S5374 and join us in our fight for healthcare justice.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
[NAME, TOWN/CITY]

ATHC