Power of collective stories and voices
Hand in Hand advocates for care workers
You've probably heard it said, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ If that is the case, then imagine what thousands of voices coming together, with one mission, might be worth?
That is just part of the goal of this Keeping it REAL Caregiving newsletter; to become a collective voice and source of information.
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In the case of advocating for a greater awareness for the vital and critical role of our country’s care workers, the power of collective voices has recently been on full display.
Courtesy: Hand in Hand Facebook
One goal was to bring more visibility to care workers and to advocate for US lawmakers in supporting the American Rescue Plan and the proposed $400 Billion dollars in funding for care infrastructure.
As a journalist and family caregiver I personally know the power of both storytelling and of highlighting the personal stories of caregivers.
I share numerous personal stories in my BLOG, but it took me years to openly talk about my experiences. When I first began taking on the duties of caring for my elderly mother, Miss Nellie, there were times when I did not want to tell anyone about the responsibilities on my plate. I was scared and overwhelmed and I'm sure many of you might sometimes feel that way as well.
Eventually I realized I needed to let those around me know my situation, because so much of my time, energy and thoughts revolved around making sure mom was cared for and it was consuming my world.
Years into the work of caregiving and at this point having said my final goodbye to my mother who passed last September, I know I am not alone in this journey.
More recently, as the topic of care and care infrastructure has become mainstream it is much easier to identify others in the same boat. In fact, it was an innocent response/question I posted to a Twitter thread which directed me to an organization focused on work in this sphere.
And that Twitter exchange then brought me to Ilana Berger, the New York Director of Hand in Hand.
It is an organization Berger tells me, that is dedicated to ‘raising the standards for domestic workers and lifting up the essential nature of care work.’
Courtesy: Twitter
I reached out to Ms. Berger to learn more about Hand in Hand. Here’s a portion of that interview:
Q: For those who are not familiar; what is Hand in Hand?
A: Hand in Hand is a sister organization to the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance. Hand in Hand has been around for over 10 years. I also am the Campaign Co-Director of New York Caring Majority, which is a statewide coalition specifically focused on the Long-Term Care component. It brings together the core stakeholders on the Long-Term Care sector; disabled people, older adults, family caregivers and home care workers, to ensure everybody who needs help in home and community-based services can access them and that home care jobs are livable and family sustaining jobs.
Q: Are you hopeful the needs of caregivers will be included in a final infrastructure plan?
A: I have great hope. You have to have hope because if you came out of Covid-19 and do not recognize the importance of the care sector, you really have been missing something. I genuinely believe that President Biden made a bold statement to include care as part of an infrastructure package; it was bold to really talk about the importance of this investment.
Q: What next for advocates?
A: People should call their Senators and demand that ideally, $400-billion continue to be invested into care. This is the money that will allow people who wish to live and age in their own homes or communities but who need support, to do so. It will allow them to do that and keep them out of institutionalized settings; out of hospitals. We want to see that money go into communities to allow as many people to age and live safely in their homes, and that the workers who do that work can feed their families.
Q: Do you have a personal connection to caregiving?
A: Yes, in addition to my own experience of having hired a nanny for my kids, I along with my family and care workers supported my grandmother who passed away last year at age 108. She had a stroke at 104 and recovered remarkably well. I remember asking the doctors what the prognosis would be and the doctor said, ‘I don’t know. I’ve never had a patient this old.’
Q: How did you ultimately care for your grandmother?
A: Well, she never would live with any one of us. She had her own apartment. She lived in a retirement community. So after she was getting out of rehab and we were looking at facilities and places to go, she said, ‘I’m going back to my apartment,’ and who were we to tell her anything else?
She needed 24-hour care, so collectively the family did a lot of work helping and managing the hiring of care and then she was able to live an incredibly high quality of life. But she had the most dedicated and incredible aids that made her life at home possible.
Q: Because you are devoted to ‘care’ work and advocacy, do those around you ever get tired of you talking about the issue?
A: No, never! Because everybody is dealing with it. I’ve worked on a lot of policy issues and this is one that is so universally felt. If you are in a room of 100 people and you ask, ‘Who is caring for a loved one?’ You’re going to get almost 97 people who raise their hand and so that’s the point of our organization.
A huge part of this work is recognizing the problem is not individual but it is this gaping hole in our system. By talking about your situation, we are demonstrating it is a collective experience that requires collective solutions. And we need to work together to force investment in care.
The conversation with Ilana Berger covered several other topics and I thank her for sharing personal and professional experiences with me.
So what about you? Are you ‘hopeful’ our society is finally starting to recognize the need for taking better care of our caregivers and understanding the crucial role they play in our lives and economy?
Let me hear from you about some of your personal experiences and lessons learned! Remember, we're all in this together...
Ciao~