|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Earlier this year, Dublin resident Dawn Halverson received a heartbreaking call from her employer letting her know she was being let go just two weeks before she was due for a second hip replacement surgery.
Worried about who will take care of her during her recovery — her son lives in Stockton — Halverson said she began to break down crying, not knowing what to do next. But, as if by divine timing, she heard a knock on the door that same day and opened it to find Livermore resident and in-home care provider Laura Olguin.
“She could see that I needed help … so she started coming over,” Halverson said. “It’s just a godsend.”
Olguin is one of nearly 2,000 in-home care providers who live in the Tri-Valley and who work for the Alameda County In-Home Supportive Services program, which is a program under the county’s Social Services Agency that provides essential home care services to approximately 32,000 older adults and people with disabilities in the county.
According to its website, IHSS provides “assistance to older adults and individuals with disabilities, who without this care, would be unable to remain safely in their home”. Registration is required to qualify for the program, which is designated for older adults and people with disabilities who need help with daily tasks at home such as housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry, grocery shopping and personal care.
An IHSS provider is someone who is employed by the program recipient to perform those services.
“I’m so thankful that she’s here. That she’s willing to come every day,” Halverson said of Olguin. “I couldn’t do this without her. I don’t know what I’d be doing (if she wasn’t here).”
And for Olguin, who has been with the county program for the past seven years, she said she is thankful that she even gets to help people through the work she does with IHSS because she knows how impactful these services are for those who really need them.
“It makes me feel good knowing that they like the work that I do,” Olguin said in an interview translated from Spanish by the Weekly. “I want (IHSS) to continue existing and hope they never take away that program because … the families like (Halverson) need it.”
Olguin said she first met Halverson more than a year ago when she began taking care of Halverson’s other son who was experiencing some health issues that kept him mostly at home. Halverson was working in San Francisco at the time and could not look after her son during the day.
Apart from cleaning the house, Olguin fed and took care of Halverson’s ailing adult son almost every day of the week up until last year when he died from health complications. After that, Olguin did not hear from Halverson for a while.
But earlier this year, Olguin said she was in between clients and happened to be in Halverson’s neighborhood, so she decided to check in on her former client. That was the same day Halverson learned she was being fired.
Since then, Olguin has helped Halverson recover from her surgery and continues to provide in-home care services Monday through Friday, even when Halverson is sick like she recently was when she came down with COVID.
“I am taking care of her, risking possibly getting sick, but I do it because it’s my job,” Olguin said.
Halverson is just one of many who benefit from these services in the Tri-Valley. Olguin, who helps older adults and people with disabilities with things like cooking, cleaning and running errands, said she has other clients and that it’s not always an easy job, but it is something she knows is necessary for the older community.
“It’s something that I like to do because I like to help,” Olguin said. “At times it’s hard with the clients, but I know I can do (the job) with patience and a lot of dedication.”
Pleasanton resident and fellow IHSS provider Glafira Lanuza told the Weekly that the work she does through IHSS is important not just for the benefit of seniors and others with disabilities, but also for the families of those who cannot look after themselves.
“I like this job because I see the need with older people and their kids who stress out about who will be taking care of their aging parents,” Lanuza said in an interview translated from Spanish by the Weekly.
Apart from easing the worried minds of their families, Lanuza — who has been with IHSS on and off for 10 years — said she also enjoys just being able to be there for her clients who are all alone in their homes.
“It’s something that is not easy, but it must be done,” she said regarding the work she does. “Someone has to do it.”
Launza said sometimes, she will take her clients out to eat and that in of itself makes their day, which brings her a lot of joy.
But she also recognized the difficulties that come with working with older adults and people with disabilities, saying the job is not for the faint of heart and that whoever wants to work in this line of in-home care services has to come from a place of passion for helping others.
“I think whoever wants to work with these clients needs to feel a sense of vocation because it’s a whole different way of life,” Lanuza said.
And thanks to a new, two-year tentative contract between Alameda County Public Authority for IHSS and SEIU Local 2015, a nationwide union that represents long-term care workers across California, folks like Olguin and Lanuza might now have more of an incentive to continue the work they do for those in need.
According to a June 25 press release from the union, the tentative agreement includes a $2.12 increase in the IHSS wage supplement over the life of the contract, which brings the total supplement to $5.62 above the state minimum wage.
It also includes a $12,000 increase in personal protective equipment and “improved language for training and provider rights”.
“I’ve been a care worker for 22 years in Alameda County, and it costs a lot to live here,” Juliann Coulter, a care worker and bargaining team member with the union, stated in the June 25 press release. “This contract will make a difference in the lives of home care workers and our clients.”
The union also emphasized the importance of the new contract not just in regard to providing livable wages, but also for immigrant rights. According to the union, immigrants make up one third of the home care workforce.
“If passed, this contract will be a victory not only for care workers, but for immigrant rights. Our care infrastructure in Alameda County and throughout California is dependent on the well-being of our immigrant workers.” Arnulfo De La Cruz, president of SEIU Local 2015, said in the press release.
And while Lanuza said there is still more work to be done in regard to bargaining for paid sick and vacation hours, both her and Olguin said the financial boost from the new contract is a big help, especially with the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
“With that, I’m able to pay my bills … that’s why I’m happy with my job and with IHSS,” Olguin said.
