This past fall, I embarked on a new chapter of my journey- applying for a masters degree in journalism (see: About the Author), which has led me to covering topics outside of the food world that I will share here at EatingwithAbē. Look out, still, for more stories at the intersection of food and activism coming to a table near year you (if you’re reading while eating). With that said…
Offering care comes in various forms, whether making food, providing companionship, or taking care of people’s ailing bodies and minds. As we’ve seen during this pandemic, care work is essential, but not necessarily respected. In this article, I look at the unique work of sustaining caring relationships with those who require varying degrees of support to live their lives to the fullest, as do we all.
Caregivers and Their Clients say they deserve Better
It’s below 32℉ in Minnesota, and frost covers car windows like sugar crystals on top of a gingerbread cookie. Traditionally, that means putting on your thermals to get ready for ice skating, skiing and making the most of winter. That’s what Mary McMenamy, 57 of Minneapolis, was doing before her car accident. She was loading a bicycle into her car and driving to a bike-run duathlon.
That’s the last moment she recalls from that night. When McMenamy’s car flipped on the freeway, she suffered a C4 spinal injury that damaged nerves in her upper spine, losing the use of her legs.
Walter (they/them), 26, of Minneapolis, started working with her a year ago, assisting with transfers from one place to another, preparing meals and maintaining routines to ensure McMenamy’s overall health and wellbeing. Walter says the connections they’ve formed with McMenamy are “incredible and unique,” but that there’s no time to take off. “You’re with that person early in the morning,” they say.
Walter and others in the field say that caregivers are underpaid and that PCA agencies provide inadequate support. “I have conversations with nurses, pharmacists, ER docs that other people couldn’t,” said Walter. That’s never reflected in their pay, they said.
Caregivers help clients fulfill physical and emotional needs that are highly specific to each client. While their official duties entail aiding with daily functioning from getting dressed to eating, the relationship between caregiver and client is highly personal.
Katherine DeCelle, 40, of Minneapolis, is both a single mom and a PCA for Christian Schoeller, who has autism. Shepreviously worked with Devin Heise, who has a condition called Hurlers syndrome, the inability to metabolize sugar resulting in potential damage to tissues and organs and stunted growth. “He’s my BFF,” she says of Devin. “I work with people because we have a relationship. It’s not for the money.”
Decelle with Heise at Como Regional Park on July 25, 2019. Photo courtesy Katherine (Katey) DeCelle.
Decelle says people don’t understand her profession. “I don’t think that it’s looked at as a real job from a lot of people,” she said. “I think sometimes people think it’s like babysitting.” In a text, she added that caregivers should be paid “SIGNIFICANTLY more.” PCAs earn between $11 and $13 per hour, though a new contract will go into effect on July 1st 2021 that sets the minimum wage to $12.
From a client’s perspective, McMenamy says caregivers are underprepared. “It’s a stranger coming into your house that has no training,” she said. She said previous PCAs have stolen from her, bullied her, and mistreated her dog.
“Lots of people will just take that treatment, because they don’t have a choice,” she said. “Maybe they can’t articulate or advocate for themselves.” She adds that agencies don’t have a backup plan if her PCA doesn’t show up.
McMenamy also says that the work that caregivers do is “hugely significant” and that they’re underpaid, especially considering the rapidly growing demand from baby boomers. The number of Minnesotans turning 65 in this decade will outnumber the past four decades combined, according to the Minnesota Demographic Center.
Becky Warne-Grondahl, 52, works as a certified nursing assistant at the Warroad Senior Living Center in Warroad, 10 miles from the Canadian border. In her previous position at Northern Horizons in Roseau County, she said, she was the only nursing assistant attending to 18 people on some shifts. To address staffing shortages in long-term care facilities, Gov. Tim Walz has called up members of the Minnesota National Guard; 270 are currently serving as temporary certified nursing assistants in 17 facilities across Minnesota.
All caregivers interviewed noted the lack of training they received before starting their work. DeCelle and Walter said PCA’s go through a single orientation training through their employment agencies. DeCelle says that at the end of her training, “They give you a dumb multiple choice test about washing your hands- stupid stuff,” she said, “And they tell you not to steal.” At only one agency, she said, did all staff members receive binders with critical care information on all clients, noting their stressors such as sensitivity to light.
When Calista Adiboye (they/them), 31, of Minneapolis began caring for World War II veteran, Rudy Feyma, in 2014, they had to wrap and waterproof his leg, which had blast shrapnel that was migrating out. Adiboye was employed by Home Health Care Inc. Their first day on the job, their training from a nurse the agency contracted lasted just minutes. “I was thrown in unprepared,” Adiboye said. The nurse left Adiboye with clean wrap and Target shopping bags.
Adiboye says that there was frequent administrator and PCA turnover at Home Health. While there, she was working as a homemaker for another client, Pat Flum, who lived in a trailer. Adiboye says Flum was a chain smoker who refused to vent the widows. “I felt compelled to stay because I cared for her a lot.” Though Adiboye had communicated to the agency that she was taking vacation time, Flum called Adiboye frantically one day asking about her absence. The request had never been filed, and Adiboye received a voicemail instructing her not to return to work. They also refused to pay Adiboye for their final two weeks of work, saying they had no record of their hours.
While some PCAs work at the behest of their clients as part of the PCA Choice program where a client sets their PCA’s salary, others work as Traditional PCA’s wherein the agency determines their rate. In 2013, caregivers established a union—SEIU Healthcare Minn. The union recently secured a temporary pay increase of 8.4% for caregivers, approved by the Minnesota legislature. The temporary increase will extend from December to February.
Galen Smith, one of the founding members of the union says, the increase should be permanent. He adds, “I also think the state should do more to ensure that the rate increase is passed on to workers.”
During the pandemic, Warne-Grondahl says she’s worried about the physical and mental health of elder residents. “They have much more time alone and very little to look forward to,” she says.
Despite the strain and uncertainty, Warne-Grondahl and others remain a dedicated presence to the people they support and befriend. Speaking of her clients, she said, “If I’m the only person you’re going to see today, we’re going to interact.”