The St. Cloud Times featured this excellent story on their front page that discusses the urgent need for a rate increase to address the workforce shortage in Minnesota’s Home & Community-Based Services. We highly encourage you to read this article to learn about the challenges, what you can do and to please share this story!
Caregivers: Tough Job Little Pay
Personal care assistants provide critical help with Marie VanderWeyst’s two sons — as long as she can keep them.
The PCAs help with 10-year-old Josh, who has severe anxiety and depression, and 9-year-old Jonny, who has autism. They help them with therapy, taking their medications, learning social skills and personal hygiene. They cope with difficult behavior that can include violent tantrums and outbursts.
And then, just as the boys have gotten used to the caregivers, they leave.