Home care aides can help America’s vulnerable elders during the coronavirus epidemic. But aides are also vulnerable.
The current coronavirus pandemic is creating substantial health risks for both home care aides and certified nursing assistants (CNA), who provide most of the hands-on care that vulnerable older adults receive.
“Home care workers are essential to helping society’s most vulnerable get through the crisis and eventually to flattening the curve of coronavirus infections,” wrote economist Christian Weller and LTSS Center Co-Directors Robyn Stone and Marc Cohen in The Conversation.
They add: “Without them, we could see a surge in demand for hospital beds and respirators—already in short supply—and more people could die as a result.”
Yet, the authors write, aides “lack essential protective equipment, even basics such as hand sanitizers and gloves amid national shortages. These materials would allow aides to more safely do their jobs.”
Despite the important work they do, aides face their own financial pressures. During an ongoing study to understand the link between the economic status of home care aides and labor force shortages in this sector, the authors found that home health aides are generally low-wage, mostly hourly workers with significant economic challenges.
- On average, they earned $13.40 per hour in 2019.
- 28% needed some public assistance in 2018.
- 14% lacked any health insurance in 2018, compared with 5% of the general population.
- 71% had medical debt due to unexpected health care expense.