On Labor Day, we recognize the U.S. workforce – those gainfully employed, in the midst of a career change or those seeking employment in a struggling economy. On this Labor Day, we must celebrate the value of a far too often unrecognized group of workers – Pennsylvania’s personal and homecare aides.
Today, nearly 20,000 homecare aides provide services that ensure Pennsylvania’s seniors can age in their own homes, where they want to be, and younger adults can remain independent at home, despite a disability. Homecare aides provide assistance with essential activities such as bathing, grooming, light housekeeping and meal preparation – activities of daily living that many of us take for granted – until age or disability makes those activities challenging.
Homecare aides are vital to ensuring independence and preserving everyone’s right to remain in their own home. The need for homecare services will only grow as the baby boomer generation ages to startling proportion and the generation before must explore long-term care options for their loved ones.
The 85 and older population is expected to more than double by 2030 and the rate of homecare use in Pennsylvania will increase to more than two million clients in that same time span. In response, an additional 7,800 personal and homecare aides in Pennsylvania will be needed by 2014.
Attracting and retaining a quality homecare workforce should be viewed as an investment in the future of 190,000 people who rely on homecare services every week in Pennsylvania and for the many more who will require and choose it in the near future. Investing in homecare workers improves both the health and well-being of those we care for, and the health and well-being of the workers themselves.
State lawmakers must recognize the services provided by the homecare workforce so that much needed and valued care will always be available to older and disabled Pennsylvanians who want to live as independently as possible.
On this Labor Day, let’s demonstrate the value we place on home, and those who work so hard to ensure that, as we age, we can remain there.
Crystal Little, Community Outreach Coordinator
Home Instead Senior Care