It’s the never ending battle for dignity and respect. Caregivers for the disabled and elderly are still making barely enough pay to justify the work they are expected to do. Homecare workers received a pay raise in 2022 bringing their pay up to $17.55 per hour, just $2 above the minimum age. And in this year’s proposed budget, Governor Hochul is proposing a $200 million cut to consumer directed home care. Certified nurses aides (CNA’s) in our nursing homes are earning $20-22 per hour and are caring for at least 10-15 patients on their shift, and Lianne Rittberg is afraid that caregivers will leave their demanding jobs for better pay and better working conditions.

Because Lianne could not hire home care workers, the 44 year old now lives full time in a local nursing home. “I am a spastic quad with cerebral palsy. I had to have hip surgery at the age of 13 and that left me in a rehab facility for a year so I could come home and go to school.” It wasn’t meant to be and Lianne is a now a full time resident of a facility in the Hudson Valley and has to depend on her caregivers for her everyday needs.

“I can’t get up and do everything I have to do for my daily living skills,” she explained. “I couldn’t get into my motorized wheelchair without them helping me. I can’t even get drink off the table without them setting it up in my cup right in front of me. I depend of them for everything.” Lianne lives on a unit of 45 patients, with three nurses aides on each eight hour shift to care for all of them. “It’s a difficult job,” she said, “to do what they are supposed to do and to make sure we all are clean, safe and fed.”

While the governor proposes to cut wages for home care workers, and nursing homes expect more out of their workers, Lianne points out that they all do the same kind of work, with the same responsibilities and should be paid adequate wages. “Most can earn more in other jobs,” she said. “We’re going to lose these workers if we don’t start giving them the money they deserve.”