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In Our Own Words
Tiffany Chase
"My name is Tiffany Chase and I am an attendant for my aunt, and I'm in school. When my aunt went into the hospital, my salary completely stopped. I enjoy my job, but this is not the first time I have been in this situation, and I am sure it will not be the last. If there was a system where I could be of use to another consumer while my main consumer was away, it would solve my financial dilemma and I could continue on with my education. This is why I am asking you to support the Consumer Workforce Council."
Tiffany Chase
Philadelphia, PA
Time for the Consumer Workforce Council!
A Consumer Workforce Council will expand home care options for seniors and people with disabilities -- while improving wages and providing health benefits for the direct care attendants who serve them.
Tell our Legislators and Governor Rendell: It's Time for the Consumer Workforce Council!
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Meet Joe Pepe and Brenda McFadden
Joseph Pepe lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Even though he’s lived with a progressive muscle disease since he was a child, he’s always been independent and active in his community. "My problems are versatile," says Joe. "And I really need assistance with everything I do."
Because of the hard work of direct care attendant Brenda McFadden -- who has been working for Joe for six years -- Joe is able to stay at home, and to live the independent life he chooses. But because of the way our long term care system works -- workers like Brenda earn an average of $8.25 an hour -- with no health benefits. "To go for six years without health care insurance -- that’s not fair, to us, and to our consumers," says Brenda. "If I’m sick, I can’t come around him, if I just can’t get medicine. The current situation means that he has to depend on us to stay healthy."
Watch this video of Brenda and Joe working together -- and telling their story about why every Pennsylvanian should have the right to choose to live at home. Learn why they support Pennsylvania's Consumer Workforce Council.
Joe and Brenda are fighting alongside thousands of other Pennsylvanians to build Pennsylvania's Consumer Workforce Council -- which would protect the rights of seniors and people with disabilities to direct their own long term care, in their homes, if they want to; while ensuring that the attendants who support them can advocate for higher wages and health benefits.
In states across the country, Consumer Workforce Councils have been instrumental in strengthening home care, which is significantly less expensive than nursing home care. It costs almost $70,000 to serve a Pennsylvania senior or person with disabilities in a nursing home, while it costs less than $25,000 to serve that person in their home or community. In a time of economic crisis, the numbers add up: we need a retainable, reliable workforce to provide the long term care our families and neighbors need.
Tell Governor Ed Rendell, our legislators, and his administration that we can't wait any longer to build Pennsylvania's Consumer Workforce Council here.
Read the proposed Consumer Workforce Council plan here.
Read about other seniors and people with disabilities and home care workers who are fighting to build Pennsylvania's Consumer Workforce Council here.