Care Can’t Wait
Family Caregivers Demand
My name is Lian Hurst Mann, I am a family caregiver. More than that, I am the family care manager. My mother, who's 98 years old, is totally bedridden, which means she needs 24 hour care between myself and my daughter, Melinda. We could not possibly, possibly do this. We're not professionals. I could not live my life without Lupe. I believe Lupe came to my mom as a match for my mom. I think it has grown into a household where now we have four generations here. Thank goodness for me, Lupe and my mom are at the center of it. I grew up with this and my mom, you know, she fit into the common liberal notion that “it's OK to hire people to help me live because I'm going to take them into the family.” There's a class struggle in this, and I certainly know being an employer that that's part of what we recognize. But it's still true that we all really love each other. And that part of it is very powerful. I do see this whole caregiving world as a realm of invisible labor. This is labor done primarily by women, primarily women of color. It's a huge transformation to step into the role of employer. And if it helps Lupe, especially as hard as it is, I'm trying to be the best employer I can. Lupe needs to get the best because she gives the best.
The Build Back Better bill addresses a few things that our family really needs. My sister lives independently, but she has home aides. And through this bill, they would get a lot more resources, a lot higher wages and actual expansion of benefits for the whole disabled community would get a lot more benefits through this. For people like my mom, especially those who are already qualified for government benefits, they will get the right to receive those benefits in their home, which is hugely radical, because right now, if you have government funding, you're forced into the institutionalized care system. And since my mother is completely bedridden and what they call ‘full assist’, she has to be helped to feed herself. It would be disastrous to be in an institutional environment. And the other thing that is not currently in this bill, but a lot of people are fighting for, is a path to citizenship. Many domestic workers can't get any of the benefits right now that would be offered by the bill because they don't have the benefits of citizenship. The Build Back Better bill is the first out the gate in what needs to end up being a socialized system of childcare and long-term care. And that's what we hope is coming.