Personal Care Attendant Consumer Calls On Governor Baker to Support a Fair Contract For Her Caregivers

May 12, 2015

Dear Governor Baker:

My name is Olivia Richard, and I am a very active 31 year old paraplegic from Brighton who is a member of the Boston Center for Independent Living, a member of the MassHealth One Care implementation council, a member of the city of Boston Disability Housing Task Force, a co-founder of MassADAPT (a grassroots disability rights group that is a chapter of National ADAPT), I give talks and lectures to various universities and groups, and I also repair people’s power and manual wheelchairs in my spare time. I’ve also pulled out my power tools and not just installed off-the-shelf access items in my friends’ living spaces, I’ve also custom-built wanted modifications for them as well.

Governor, I couldn’t accomplish ANY of this without the assistance of my Personal Care Attendants helping me with getting in the shower, helping me get dressed, and helping me cook food safely. I try to cook on the stove and have burned myself in the effort. They help to keep me safe when transferring to and from my wheelchair in the bathroom, and alert me if they see a potential pressure spot developing on my skin. My PCAs also help me with the daily housework and keeping my apartment clean and safe. My PCAs are my lifeline to maintaining my independence and active commitment to serving my community. If I were returned back to living in the nursing home, I wouldn’t be able to do any of what I love to do.

For everything my PCAs do for me, they receive a pretty raw deal financially. $13.38 per hour in Massachusetts isn’t a sustainable wage for this area. Finding affordable housing options and affordable healthcare options for having illnesses and injuries treated continues to be an issue, which is grossly unacceptable considering they’re helping us maintain our own health in our own homes!

Governor Baker, I ask you to please give my Personal Care Attendants a fair contract this year that includes a fair and true living wage. They are hardworking, caring, loving individuals who extend themselves to make sure people like me get what we need. This winter, the day after the blizzard shut the MBTA down for weeks in my area, one of my PCAs actually WALKED from her apartment on Warren Street up the Commonwealth Ave hill to my place at 20 Washington Street. Nothing had been shoveled or plowed, but she struggled through it because she knew I was sitting in my bed that morning and needed her help to get ready for the day.

Thank you Governor Baker, and I truly hope you can make a fair wage and contract for our PCAs a reality. They’ve always had our back, and let’s prove we have