Opinion | Ending our state’s home care crisis is within reach

Every day, I wake up before the sun to care for my adult daughter and my grandson. I work all day cooking, cleaning, and providing personal care — and my work continues after the rest of my family goes to bed.

My name is Ravina Turner. I live in Dearborn Heights, and I am one of 31,000 home care workers and family caregivers who provide care through Michigan’s Home Help program.

My life changed forever 20 years ago when my daughter, then only 7 years old, was struck with two debilitating illnesses: Crohn’s disease and colitis. After her diagnosis, she needed more than a dozen surgeries and endured long stays in the hospital with me at her side. Caring for my daughter became a full time job, and in the end, I needed to leave my job outside the home to tend to her.

This is my family’s story, but it’s far from unique. All over Michigan, home care workers like me provide essential services to people living with disabilities and to our state’s growing population of seniors. And while we provide love and care to thousands of our fellow Michiganders every day, we need to ensure that our basic needs are met as well.

Right now, most home care workers in our state are paid only $13.53 an hour. For context, that’s not enough to order a pizza. That low pay, combined with a lack of available training and essential benefits, are causing an alarming shortage of home care workers in Michigan. 

All of this is going on at a time when the demand for home care is only rising. The vast majority of people want to age at home, and our population is rapidly aging. By 2030, the retirement age population in our state will grow by more than 30%. And a new report shows that if working conditions don’t improve, Michigan will face a shortage of more than 170,000 home care workers within the next decade. 

But there’s hope. Powered by a growing movement of thousands of caregivers and allies from the senior and disability communities, State senators passed Senate bills 790 and 791 in June and made strengthening and improving our home care system a priority. 

Sponsored by Senators Hertel and Santana, The Home Help Caregiver Council Act, Senate Bills 790 and 791, lay the necessary groundwork for solving Michigan's home care crisis. These bills offer the support and funding needed to strengthen the home care workforce, and to give working families the peace of mind that their loved ones can access and afford the individual care they need to live full, healthy lives at home.

The bills would also create a public authority to provide better training and certifications for care workers. This would allow us to receive much needed training, especially for those of us working people with acute care needs, such as those recovering from a stroke or living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. 

And this summer, home care workers will be out across Michigan at fairs and events, urging House members to vote YES when they return to work this month to stem the home care crisis. 

Across Michigan, seniors and people with disabilities need affordable, reliable care. Meanwhile, home care workers need the pay, benefits, and security that will make it possible for us to do our jobs and stay in our jobs for the long haul. 

A union is the only way for home care workers to have a voice on the job and a seat at the table to negotiate living wages, essential benefits and the training we need to provide the best care. With a united voice, we can better advocate for ourselves and the people we care for. Our state has a proud history of unionization, and it is thanks in large part to the union organizing efforts of our parents and grandparents here in Michigan that America was able to build the greatest middle class the world has ever known.

Governor Whitmer agrees. When I welcomed her into my home to show her a day in my life as a home care worker, she clearly understood the need for our collective bargaining rights. “We repealed ‘right to work’ because I do believe in workers and worker’s rights,” she told me. 

Home care workers deserve a liveable wage, essential benefits like health care, and the training they need to perform their jobs, the same as any American worker. The Home Help Caregiver Council Act would make that a reality. For home care workers and the people we care for, and for all Michiganders, there’s no time to waste.