Domestic Abuse?

Anyone who has experience with the elderly, be they grandparents, parents, or extended family members, knows that their medical needs are often complex, and their isolation profound. As we age, there is no assurance that despite our best efforts to keep healthy and vigorous, we will not find ourselves in the position of needing a great deal of help someday.

During my mother's protracted final illness, the last two years of which were spent at home under the loving ministrations of my father, home care became an essential part of their daily routine. For about an hour-and-a-half both in the morning and the evening, a personal support worker (PSW) tended to my mother's needs. Whenever I was there during one of her visits, I couldn't help but notice the grace, kindness and patience with which she carried out her duties. It is a job few would envy.

And yet, despite the vital role such personnel play in the lives of so many, they are woefully underpaid and unappreciated by the Ontario government, which is responsible for setting their rates of remuneration. Like so much else, it would seem that their promotion of home care as a viable alternative to hospitalization and long-term care of the elderly is so much blather and rhetoric, given their reluctance to properly fund and remunerate the workers who, in a non-unionized environment, make a minimum wage of 12.50 an hour, a rate the government established in 2006. Many such workers receive no benefits and are employed only part-time.

To get a better picture of what many would consider an exploited class of worker, I strongly encourage you to take a look at an article written by a PSW, Charmaine Kelegan, in today's Star.

After reading the piece, I suspect most would agree that it is an underpaid and underappreciated job, but one vital to our society.