Illinois Caregivers Speak Out in Springfield

Chicago-area home care workers rally in Springfield for wage increase, worker shortages concerns

Maria Arenas started her career in home care shortly after seeing the senior care system fail her own mother.

“My mom went to a care home, and there were so many issues,” Arenas says. “They didn’t have enough staff. I would visit and notice that she and the person living next to her hadn’t been cleaned or clothing changed. I said to myself, ‘This is not good. The government needs to help all seniors and all workers.’”

When Arenas’ mother-in-law also became ill, Arenas decided to train as a home care worker to care for her family herself. The job requires state-approved training and background checks, and entails the physical and emotional demands of helping clients with daily care.

The work is challenging, and Arenas, who works for Help at Home, speaks passionately about it. So much so that last week, she joined more than 600 seniors and caregivers rallying outside the State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Health Care organized the rally in support of the Community Care Program bill (SB3033), which proposes increasing home care workers’ wages by $2 an hour, up to $20.75.

“[Home care workers] do the humblest of humblest of work,” said State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, a bill sponsor, at the rally. “When my grandmother was sick with lung cancer and getting worse with her Parkinson’s, who was there all the time? When my own mother got cancer and was my grandmother’s primary caregiver and couldn’t do any more, you know who was there taking my grandmother to appointments? Making sure my grandmama’s laundry was done? Making sure she was taking her medication on time? Making sure she got fed? Home care workers. That’s what we’re fighting for.”

For Arenas and many others, the cost of living and the out-of-pocket expenses they face as home care workers have rapidly increased. Wages, meanwhile, have not kept up with inflation.

“When we take clients to doctors’ appointments, we have to put our own gas into the car,” Arenas says. “I won’t tell my clients, ‘I can’t take you.’ But the mileage reimbursement we get is very small.”

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, nearly 3 million seniors will be living in Illinois by 2035. Researchers say the state will need as many as 270,000 new long-term care jobs to meet demand. Instead, according to SEIU leadership, more workers than ever are leaving the profession due to long hours and low wages.

Arenas, who has three clients in the Archer Heights neighborhood near Midway Airport, describes the dual challenges of practical home care duties and tending to seniors’ social and emotional needs.

“Sometimes they’re just grumpy, and so when we go there, we try to make them smile. We want them to feel like family, like someone loves them,” Arenas says. “I learned from taking care of my mom that you always have to give the person love.”

That also means being patient or taking calls in the middle of the night for clients who have nobody else — no family — to assist them, Arenas says.

SEIU leadership indicated they have received significant supportive feedback from Illinois legislators about the value of the Community Care Program, but there remains a disconnect in how to fund it. While local and state officials are supportive of home health care in principle, there remains debate over funding sources.

“I don’t think many people realize we aren’t getting paid [enough],” Arenas says. “The issue is not front of mind until people have to figure out how to provide care for an aging parent.”