It’s tough to be old, poor and in poor health. My mental health issues have become supplemented by physical constraints — wobbly legs, vision issues, extreme clumsiness, pain everywhere. Worst of all, although I am drowning in media stimulation, I need human company. This drew my doctor to conclude I need daily help with tasks and to improve my life. In my case, the Oregon Health Plan got me that kind of help.
And it worked well much of the time. The program I was referred to hires someone to come every day to direct me in some housekeeping task, teach me others, help me organize the time they would be gone, and make sure I have the resources to get by that day. Even in 2020, the year COVID burst upon the scene and began to change us forever, I had consistent assistance.
Then 2021 began, COVID continued to run rampant through the entire community, and suddenly the system that supported me collapsed
Home care work is very hard. If care workers don’t know whether clients are vaccinated, it’s hard to justify keeping the appointment. Even though I am fully vaccinated, in the last nine months, at least six home care workers hired to help me have come and gone.
Most left the agency because they were moving on, like taking a job in another field or leaving the area. I had good workers and bad workers, but in late 2021, workers started coming in less and less frequently. So far in 2022, there have been none at all.
This poses problems. I’d been getting help with directions on housekeeping, and those directions are no longer coming. I couldn’t physically manage washing the floor or bath without help. The laundry is also difficult for a guy alone who can’t lift very much and gets dizzy every time he bends over. In short, the chronic absence of help provided with a lack of helpers meant I quickly found myself in a disaster area.
The reason is obvious — staffing shortages. Home care worker is not the most pleasant of professions, nor the best-paid. At the moment, it is also very far from being the safest. Not every client is as cooperative as I am, or even acknowledges the need for help. I heard horror stories every so often about other jobs, both in and outside the agency. They are not able to keep up with the attrition, and I am adrift.
This leaves their clients like me in a serious bind. The lack of home care leads to worse living conditions, which can cause evictions. Finding other housing is extraordinarily difficult if you have a record of evictions or others consider you a “problem tenant.” Waiting lists are sometimes years long for public-supported housing, so inability to maintain a home without assistance can lead to no home at all. That helps nobody.
This should not happen to anyone. The situation of burning through worker after worker, with breaks over several weeks, is not a good way for people with physical or mental disabilities to live, nor does it help the agencies who employ them. Many other people less articulate than I are in need of much more services — and having just as much trouble getting it.
The Great Resignation is hitting me hard. And while I understand people’s need to get out of a terrible job, do they have to get out of these? It’s not the fault of the agencies or the individual workers, and it is not the fault of me as a client. All I know is that there is a severe need for help people are not getting in a pandemic, when we need it most.
Michael Hopcroft lives in Portland and is a board member of the Mental Health Association of Portland.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2022 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
