All inhome health care aids and caregivers who protect immunocomprised special needs children and adults deserve proper pay and sick time compensation. This IS NOT UNSKILLED labor, we make a lot of sacrifices for this line of work and we deserve to make enough money to support ourselves even if we can’t work full time. “Get another job” I refuse to quit when the boy, Bodey, a 7 year old adoptee from China with Down syndrome, is heavily attached to me, after working with him for over a year, and his brother, Nick, a 9 year old who’s immunocomprised who also has autism and Down syndrome, also needs me around for his emotional and mental well-being. Our availability varies widely week to week due to their changing needs and keeps us from being able to work another part time job. Why don’t I deserve living wage when I am a crucial person to a child’s well-being? Many caregivers have quit quickly or suddenly because they can not handle Nick’s behavior, but like I said, I’ve been with consumer care and these two clients for over a year now. I have not gone anywhere public, no crowds, no events, ever since the beginning of covid, I have not traveled to see my family or friends in two years, two holiday seasons in a row, in order to protect these kids. I have missed multiple weeks of work, due to me waiting for my own covid test results, and my clients, and have received ZERO compensation for the time I couldn’t work because I was doing the right thing to protect these vulnerable children. Why do I have to financially suffer, because of the company’s and governments greed? Until very recently when Biden made it mandatory to give inhome healthcare workers sick time, I had NONE, it didn’t matter how long or how many hours I had worked. None. I have only earned 15 hours of sick time in over a year? This is honestly disgusting that companies like this keep getting away with doing the hardest workers the most dirty. When I started I made $12 an hour, which was enough when I was working more than full time hours, but with my hours cut down to like 15-30 a week I can’t survive on only $15/hr. We need at least $22/hr or a salary of at least $25,000 a year. I have been living in poverty this whole time. It’s time we stop forcing people to have messy (and even illegal) side hussles, doing anything they can, just so they can make barely enough money to support themselves so they can keep doing the job they are passionate about. We can do better. We deserve better. Our special needs youth, medically fragile people, and elderly deserve better. We will lose all of our compassionate, devoted, hard workers if we don’t pay them enough, and all you’ll have left to care for your loved ones will be actual unskilled people who do the bare minimum without any afterthought, care, or kindness. Tell consumer care that WE DEMAND BETTER pay and compensation for our carers and WE DEMAND BETTER for our clients, sign the petition and email the president

Ben Bledsoe benb@consumerdirectcare.com (no relation to me as far as I know lol)

to require change in this industry! Together we can make a difference�