Hi everybody. I forgot to say Happy Memorial Day. Above is a photo I did in Santa Barbara before I got injured. Anyway, Happy belated Memorial Day.
So, check this out. Remember a few blogs ago I said something like, “Someone’s gonna get hurt if they don’t increase the wage for home healthcare.” Well, someone did get hurt. And guess who it was? … Me!
You see, my health aide fell asleep in the back of my car. He fell asleep because he’s overworked. He has to take three jobs just to make ends meet. As a result I got a fractured ankle because my chair wasn’t locked in and my wheelchair belt wasn’t on. I ended up under the dashboard, and fractured my ankle. Now, I’m not blaming the agency that my health aide worked for, nor am I blaming my health aide. The guy was just tired. I mean, he has to work three jobs just to make ends meet. Now, the state did increase the wage for home healthcare aides, but by only a small amount. Enough just to knock any candidates out of potential state benefits. Crazy. It’s almost an insult. It really makes me mad because people like the patient (me) suffer. What's it gonna take? The death of a few people before they take on home healthcare? Check out this article that a regional paper did. It’s only regional, but maybe someone national will pick it up and run with it. There needs to be an investigative reporter from either the New York Times or 60 minutes. We have to put fire under the ass of these politicians. If you’re a politician, I would take this issue and run with it. It kind of pisses me off.
I’ll include a photo of the article. It was in the May 23 issue of the Journal News.
On another note: I’ve been speaking with our town mayor. She’s going to build housing for people like my home healthcare aides and other workers. Pretty cool. Who would think I’d be an activist.
On another, other note. I got on the track for the first time since 1986. It was weird. I got on the track and just wanted to take off running. I made it 20 yards. Pretty cool. But man, was I tired.
That’s it for this week. Love and miss you all. This is B. Nice signing off.
B. Nice
