My adult autistic son, almost 40, lives in a group home run by a non-profit social services agency, under contract to the state. We waited 7 years for a slot in ANY group home, one of those years AFTER he was designated priority 1 for residential care. It is a house in a suburban neighborhood, and looks pretty much like every other home, i.e., not an institution. The neighbors don't like to see the staff cars so the agency makes sure there is plenty of off-street parking, behind tall fences. It takes 15 people to staff a 24/7/365 group home for 5 autistic adults. Every year we attend an International Fair, where the staff make food from their home countries, play music, do dances, and hold a fashion show. The residents, their parents/guardians, and all staff attend. This year we all received t-shirts with a bubble illustration of where the staff hailed from (in no particular order): Uganda, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Haiti, Jamaica, USA, Canada, India, Iran, Ghana, Turkey, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Russia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda. Twenty-one countries.
We all breathed a sigh of relief when the most recent stay of TPS revocation came down, with days to spare.
People who are severely autistic, often non-speaking, usually do not have a lot of friends. (How many do you know? How many do your kids know? Are they really friends, or just someone you observe occasionally?) Their paid staff are often the only regular people in their lives, aside from their families.
All staff have cards to hand to anyone who attempts to gain entry: this is a residence, a private home for 5 autistic adults, and not a workplace. Call the executives to present your judicial warrant. I don't know what such a raid would do to the autistic/ID/DD residents, who struggle with everyday routine. For the staff, it's part of the training now.
Even the executives, some of whom are naturalized citizens from sub-Saharan Africa, with master's degrees and PhDs, carry their passport cards in case papers are demanded of them.
I don't know a lot of people who are willing to take these jobs. I know what a handful my son is. You don't get a placement unless you are medically fragile or, like him, severely behaviorally challenged. We are thankful for them.
The staff are incredibly dedicated and hard-working. We ask a lot of them. I don't know what we'd do with A LOT fewer of them.
I agree that these caregivers deserve honor for their service for too little pay. I would just like to emphasize that they are human beings deserving of respect and appreciation - even if some decide to be plumbers or lawyers!
I couldn't have cared for my husband at home until he died without a caregiving workforce heavily supported by immigrants. I wonder who the Trumps think will care for them - a ton of money is not much help when there is nobody to hire to do the challenging work of caregiving.
What works with fear-mongering people like this administration and a lot of people in Congress is to force them to put themselves in other people's shoes. Many of these people will never have to worry if they or their loved ones will ever need care from immigrants, they are too economically and socially insulated from the rest of us. So, they are not interested in learning how immigrants from certain countries they disdain are extremely helpful to us. Maybe we could have a reality TV show where prominently wealthy people could be challenged to have an experience of being in a nursing home for a week, or have to subsist on Medicaid and food stamps for a month, or feed, clothe, and house a family of four off minimum wages, or put their own children or grandchildren in a daycare center, or get dental care with only an HMO dental insurance coverage, or wait in an emergency room without medical insurance, or apply for a home loan with the median wages in a particular state. Or, leave them to fend alone in the middle of a town with no home or hotel, computer, phone, credit cards, cash, or vehicle. It has to be up close and personal for them, because empathy is lacking. They get the point if it affects their bottom line, though. Without the income, production, labor and taxes they get from immigrants, maybe they will finally see the impact of their decisions.
Two lovely women from another "shithole" country, Nigeria, got me through the death of my mother - during more than a year in at-home hospice. For several years I've been saying openly in politically-mixed groups - who will be there for you and yours if you succeed in deporting all these people? (usually more crudely phrased)
The shortsightedness is baffling to me. I think people think - oh, after Trump they will just come back legally. Do we think places like Japan, China, and the Middle East are not going to figure out how to profit from our idiocy? This cruelty is creating wounds our country may never be able to heal.
This feels related to a "hot take" I've been mulling over.
It was growing popular to get upset about the amount of spending directed to older people. But, that spend has to be transferred from the older people, as well. Such that it feels a better path forward would be to embrace the spend in, essentially, jobs programs for all of the services that people need as they grow.
You want people to enter into the service industries for people. Why not direct a fair bit of the spending to them? If that means government has to do more oversight to prevent private companies from moving all of the profit out of an area, so be it.
People like my 91 year old aunt and my 85 year old father need to read this. Great article, thank you very much!! They are part of the old boomers who voted for this mess. Unfortunately, they watch Newsmax and Fox and do not go online at all. They only read local papers, etc. They obviously didn't listen to me, as I campaigned locally for the Democrats. I told them back in 2023 and 2024 that they could lose their caretakers (my aunt has one, my father does not yet). Now, it's likely to come true.
No one understands the difficulty in acquiring and maintaining home health care for a loved one.
You may think you have the means, the insurance to do so -- but that is not necessarily the case.
How does one find care that is both skilled, caring and trustworthy? It comes as an unwanted revelation that we as a society are not willing to have a system that will make healthcare, especially for a disabled, care-needing, or elderly loved one, accessible, or even affordable.
The cost of "keeping a loved one at home" is exorbitant, especially for 24/7 care. Like the current healthcare and health insurance crisis, this too is profit-driven and increasing so.
The "tricks" include removing all assets from the (future) needed name, so that one can apply for Medicaid. Medicaid does not provide 24/7 home care -- only within a nursing home. The homes are profiting from your loved one's care -- and can we expect a home to spend that money well, on good care?
Out-of-pocket cost is exorbitant and this is from a legitimate, licensed agency. My elderly sister needed 24/7 care. Two aides who rotated over the days cost @$5,500 per month. We took a breath and planned for a year's care (hoping it wouldn't extend farther). We were able to do that, but what then?
This did at least bring us the peace of mind that my sister (a retired nurse) was getting wonderful, kind care from these 2 wonderful aides, both from Jamaica. After a lifetime of independence and hard and honorable work, allows advocating for her patients) it was difficulty for my sister. In a sense, the silver lining to her health crisis was being "spoiled" (I would tease her that she was getting used to it").
We are still in touch with one aide, and I'm glad to be able to remind this humble and kind woman how she helped all of us immeasurably, allowing my sister to live at home, comfortably and safely. We were given the gift of peace-of-mind because of these aides, and my sister had a measure of security and reassurance that she could concentrate on her health, while enjoying the perks of being in her home.
Allison took care of my mom! I am forever grateful for the care she gave. I accidentally called her two days ago and was able to tell her once more about the difference she made to our family. Allison is from Haiti, a gift to America! I pray that all the parents have someone that genuinely cares for them as patients.
My mom has dementia and now requires memory care. Her caregivers are absolutely excellent, skilled, empathic, hardworking professionals, and at least 90% of them are foreign born. We are indebted to these people.
They know exactly what they are doing. Deport caregivers so that families will be forced to step up and care for their own elders (and children--day care workers are also likely to be immigrants). Guess who will have to leave the workforce to stay home with aging relatives/small children? Hint: it won't be men.
Reading this, I was struck by how much of our economy is built on cheap labor, meaning immorally cheap and enabled by keeping people "illegal" or at least on the margins. We could probably find a rational solution to our labor and immigration situation, but not without driving the cost of manufacturing certain goods and providing certain services way up. It's ... uncomfortable, to put it mildly. Not that my personal discomfort is the point.
Also, thank you for the mention of Filipino healthcare workers. I used to work with a medical audit company, and so many of our cost outlier nurses were from the Philippines, both immigrants and outsourced work to people still living there. They don't get enough credit for filling health care needs.
My adult autistic son, almost 40, lives in a group home run by a non-profit social services agency, under contract to the state. We waited 7 years for a slot in ANY group home, one of those years AFTER he was designated priority 1 for residential care. It is a house in a suburban neighborhood, and looks pretty much like every other home, i.e., not an institution. The neighbors don't like to see the staff cars so the agency makes sure there is plenty of off-street parking, behind tall fences. It takes 15 people to staff a 24/7/365 group home for 5 autistic adults. Every year we attend an International Fair, where the staff make food from their home countries, play music, do dances, and hold a fashion show. The residents, their parents/guardians, and all staff attend. This year we all received t-shirts with a bubble illustration of where the staff hailed from (in no particular order): Uganda, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ukraine, Haiti, Jamaica, USA, Canada, India, Iran, Ghana, Turkey, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Russia, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda. Twenty-one countries.
We all breathed a sigh of relief when the most recent stay of TPS revocation came down, with days to spare.
People who are severely autistic, often non-speaking, usually do not have a lot of friends. (How many do you know? How many do your kids know? Are they really friends, or just someone you observe occasionally?) Their paid staff are often the only regular people in their lives, aside from their families.
All staff have cards to hand to anyone who attempts to gain entry: this is a residence, a private home for 5 autistic adults, and not a workplace. Call the executives to present your judicial warrant. I don't know what such a raid would do to the autistic/ID/DD residents, who struggle with everyday routine. For the staff, it's part of the training now.
Even the executives, some of whom are naturalized citizens from sub-Saharan Africa, with master's degrees and PhDs, carry their passport cards in case papers are demanded of them.
I don't know a lot of people who are willing to take these jobs. I know what a handful my son is. You don't get a placement unless you are medically fragile or, like him, severely behaviorally challenged. We are thankful for them.
The staff are incredibly dedicated and hard-working. We ask a lot of them. I don't know what we'd do with A LOT fewer of them.
I agree that these caregivers deserve honor for their service for too little pay. I would just like to emphasize that they are human beings deserving of respect and appreciation - even if some decide to be plumbers or lawyers!
I couldn't have cared for my husband at home until he died without a caregiving workforce heavily supported by immigrants. I wonder who the Trumps think will care for them - a ton of money is not much help when there is nobody to hire to do the challenging work of caregiving.
What works with fear-mongering people like this administration and a lot of people in Congress is to force them to put themselves in other people's shoes. Many of these people will never have to worry if they or their loved ones will ever need care from immigrants, they are too economically and socially insulated from the rest of us. So, they are not interested in learning how immigrants from certain countries they disdain are extremely helpful to us. Maybe we could have a reality TV show where prominently wealthy people could be challenged to have an experience of being in a nursing home for a week, or have to subsist on Medicaid and food stamps for a month, or feed, clothe, and house a family of four off minimum wages, or put their own children or grandchildren in a daycare center, or get dental care with only an HMO dental insurance coverage, or wait in an emergency room without medical insurance, or apply for a home loan with the median wages in a particular state. Or, leave them to fend alone in the middle of a town with no home or hotel, computer, phone, credit cards, cash, or vehicle. It has to be up close and personal for them, because empathy is lacking. They get the point if it affects their bottom line, though. Without the income, production, labor and taxes they get from immigrants, maybe they will finally see the impact of their decisions.
Two lovely women from another "shithole" country, Nigeria, got me through the death of my mother - during more than a year in at-home hospice. For several years I've been saying openly in politically-mixed groups - who will be there for you and yours if you succeed in deporting all these people? (usually more crudely phrased)
The shortsightedness is baffling to me. I think people think - oh, after Trump they will just come back legally. Do we think places like Japan, China, and the Middle East are not going to figure out how to profit from our idiocy? This cruelty is creating wounds our country may never be able to heal.
Could?
Will. I’m seeing it in So. Cal.
This feels related to a "hot take" I've been mulling over.
It was growing popular to get upset about the amount of spending directed to older people. But, that spend has to be transferred from the older people, as well. Such that it feels a better path forward would be to embrace the spend in, essentially, jobs programs for all of the services that people need as they grow.
You want people to enter into the service industries for people. Why not direct a fair bit of the spending to them? If that means government has to do more oversight to prevent private companies from moving all of the profit out of an area, so be it.
People like my 91 year old aunt and my 85 year old father need to read this. Great article, thank you very much!! They are part of the old boomers who voted for this mess. Unfortunately, they watch Newsmax and Fox and do not go online at all. They only read local papers, etc. They obviously didn't listen to me, as I campaigned locally for the Democrats. I told them back in 2023 and 2024 that they could lose their caretakers (my aunt has one, my father does not yet). Now, it's likely to come true.
No one understands the difficulty in acquiring and maintaining home health care for a loved one.
You may think you have the means, the insurance to do so -- but that is not necessarily the case.
How does one find care that is both skilled, caring and trustworthy? It comes as an unwanted revelation that we as a society are not willing to have a system that will make healthcare, especially for a disabled, care-needing, or elderly loved one, accessible, or even affordable.
The cost of "keeping a loved one at home" is exorbitant, especially for 24/7 care. Like the current healthcare and health insurance crisis, this too is profit-driven and increasing so.
The "tricks" include removing all assets from the (future) needed name, so that one can apply for Medicaid. Medicaid does not provide 24/7 home care -- only within a nursing home. The homes are profiting from your loved one's care -- and can we expect a home to spend that money well, on good care?
Out-of-pocket cost is exorbitant and this is from a legitimate, licensed agency. My elderly sister needed 24/7 care. Two aides who rotated over the days cost @$5,500 per month. We took a breath and planned for a year's care (hoping it wouldn't extend farther). We were able to do that, but what then?
This did at least bring us the peace of mind that my sister (a retired nurse) was getting wonderful, kind care from these 2 wonderful aides, both from Jamaica. After a lifetime of independence and hard and honorable work, allows advocating for her patients) it was difficulty for my sister. In a sense, the silver lining to her health crisis was being "spoiled" (I would tease her that she was getting used to it").
We are still in touch with one aide, and I'm glad to be able to remind this humble and kind woman how she helped all of us immeasurably, allowing my sister to live at home, comfortably and safely. We were given the gift of peace-of-mind because of these aides, and my sister had a measure of security and reassurance that she could concentrate on her health, while enjoying the perks of being in her home.
Allison took care of my mom! I am forever grateful for the care she gave. I accidentally called her two days ago and was able to tell her once more about the difference she made to our family. Allison is from Haiti, a gift to America! I pray that all the parents have someone that genuinely cares for them as patients.
My mom has dementia and now requires memory care. Her caregivers are absolutely excellent, skilled, empathic, hardworking professionals, and at least 90% of them are foreign born. We are indebted to these people.
Been waiting for this - who do all these Red state old people think are going to take care of them?
That picture says so much about the kindness and humanity of caretaker - and lack of humanity USA shows in return. We are mentally ill right now.
It could also hurt our children. A lot of daycare centers have immigrant staff.
And why do we make it so difficult for these hard working people to become citizens?
They know exactly what they are doing. Deport caregivers so that families will be forced to step up and care for their own elders (and children--day care workers are also likely to be immigrants). Guess who will have to leave the workforce to stay home with aging relatives/small children? Hint: it won't be men.
Reading this, I was struck by how much of our economy is built on cheap labor, meaning immorally cheap and enabled by keeping people "illegal" or at least on the margins. We could probably find a rational solution to our labor and immigration situation, but not without driving the cost of manufacturing certain goods and providing certain services way up. It's ... uncomfortable, to put it mildly. Not that my personal discomfort is the point.
Also, thank you for the mention of Filipino healthcare workers. I used to work with a medical audit company, and so many of our cost outlier nurses were from the Philippines, both immigrants and outsourced work to people still living there. They don't get enough credit for filling health care needs.