#MacroSW 4/12/18 – Home Care Workers in Home and Community Based Services

For this week’s chat, we will be talking about the issues facing home care workers who care for older and disabled adults in their homes and communities.

According to the Paraprofessional Health Care Institute (PHI), there are over 2 million home care workers in the US who provide care to older adults and persons with disabilities in community based residential settings.  The demand for home care workers has grown exponentially over the past 10 years and is anticipated to continue to grow, as the population of people over age 65 continues to grow.  Most of these aging adults report a desire to want to age in place at home.

Home care workers in most of the United States are often women (88%), people of color (28% African-American and 21% Hispanic or Latinx), and immigrants (28% born in other countries) (PHI, 2017).  Wages for a home care workers range from $8.46/hr…