Colorado’s home health care workers poised for historic step forward

(Getty Images)

If you follow news from the health care industry, you might have seen a recent article shedding light on a report forecasting an impending shortage of home health care workers in Colorado — more specifically, a shortage of nearly 20% of care workers in our state’s rural communities.

I read the report, but I wasn’t surprised. Everything in it, I know from personal experience.

I started working as a caregiver over 45 years ago, from the time I was 16, when my grandfather had a stroke. He was paralyzed on one side of his body, overnight. It wasn’t a choice for me back then. I had to become a caregiver for a family member that I loved.

Today, I still provide that same level of care to people in my community in Penrose and across Colorado. Now, though, I have more of a choice. But for care workers like me, it’s one that becomes harder every day. Time and time again, we’ve spoken up about serious issues in our industry, like unlivable wages, unsafe working conditions, little to no benefits, and widespread labor law violations like wage theft.

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Care workers provide essential, round-the-clock care to the most vulnerable people in our communities, but the issues we’re facing at work are making these jobs unsustainable for more and more of us.

This isn’t just about us, though. It’s about you, too. Statistically, nearly 70% of all Coloradans will either need care themselves one day or they know someone who will. With so many care workers leaving the industry, especially in rural communities like mine, how will everyone get the care they need? In many cases, finding a care worker can already take weeks or even months, and it’s only getting worse.

However, there’s some good news. Care workers, those who receive care, labor unions like SEIU Local 105, and care agencies have been speaking out about this, and last year, we worked together to pass a historic piece of legislation in the Colorado Legislature. It was called the Direct Care Workforce Stabilization Board , and it created an official state-run board inside the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to hear from folks around Colorado about issues in the care industry and make recommendations to solve them.

The board members, including myself, are all stakeholders with actual experience in the care industry. For the first time, care workers and those who receive care were able to sit at the table with agency owners and the state government to work towards making real change in this industry. Over the past year on this board, we’ve traveled around Colorado, hearing stories from everyone involved in care in our state, and we just released our recommendations for the state Legislature.

Out of all of them, I’m most proud of a $25 base wage increase for care workers by 2026, a minimum of 10 paid days off per year, an investigation into systemic racism in our industry, and paid know-your-rights training that helps us access state-mandated benefits and resources to protect against workplace mistreatment. I’d recommend reading through the full list because it’s a historic step forward for the future of care in our state and an example of what we can accomplish when we come together to solve problems.

So, what’s next? These recommendations go to the Colorado Legislature, who, just like when they created this board, will have the opportunity to codify them into state law and make them a reality.

We can’t allow the crisis-level shortage of care to get any worse. We must fix the rampant issues in this industry and make a serious investment in the future of all Coloradans. Together, we can ensure that no one goes without the care they need.

It’s only a matter of time before someone you know needs care, and they deserve the best care they can possibly get.

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