“We’re really struggling.”
All across California, caregivers are routinely overlooked and undervalued. Their profession doesn’t get taken seriously. They don’t make adequate wages. Some are forced to live off of public assistance. Others have to take a second job to make ends meet. Most of them work more hours than they are paid for. In fact, for a lot of caregivers, their work is a round-the-clock sort of job, despite the few hours they’re compensated for. One thing connects them: their willingness to sacrifice so much to take care of people. And they’re not asking for much; just enough money to live on and decent coverage for both themselves and their loved ones.
One of these heroes is mom, caregiver and SEIU fighter Carmen Martinez.
Carmen lives in Fremont, California, with her two teenaged sons, Oscar and Edson. Oscar is autistic and has an intellectual disability. Carmen has been his caregiver since 2016. She loves her job and fought to get enough hours to take care of Oscar in a way that would allow IHSS to be her only job.
“My son is my first and only reason why I do this. A social worker from the regional center Oscar attends told me about IHSS. And what better way to be able to take care of him?,” said Carmen. “When I first started taking care of my son, I was only authorized 80 hours a month. How could that be? I knew something wasn’t right, and I pushed to get more information. So, I got a second visit from a second social worker who told me I qualified for more hours. So, I had to get a hearing, fill out paperwork, and have visits from an IHSS monitor, before they cleared me. I’m very determined. I have to be. I have to be Oscar’s advocate, so I have to give my all to every fight I take up on his behalf.”
Carmen’s Day starts at 5 a.m., but that can vary, if Oscar wakes up earlier than anticipated; she has to be alert and hear when son wakes up. Between seven and eight, she makes breakfast for Oscar, and then he’s off to the (virtual) SBS Attention Center. He starts Zoom classes at eight. Oscar interacts with educational caregivers there, and particularly enjoys coloring/art lessons. At 11, Carmen makes lunch. She then helps Oscar shower, change, then they go for a walk, and then they come back eat dinner together. He’s asleep by 9.
“I have to be alert and on the lookout for my son’s anxiety attacks.”
Oscar has severe anxiety. If he has an anxiety episode, he’ll walk and wander trying to calm himself down, and Carmen has to make sure that he’s safe. Then she’ll work to calm him down. Calming Oscar down from an anxiety attack is something that Carmen had to learn over time.
“We have emergency anxiety meds that I have to give Oscar during these attacks. While the meds wait to kick in, he might bite himself, and sometimes, I have to hold him down. It’s not easy, but I can’t have him hurting himself. Most times, I’ll try to massage him or sing to him. I have to be alert and on the lookout for my son’s anxiety attacks.
“A couple weeks ago, I could just tell from his body language that he was in the beginning stages of an attack, so I fixed the problem as soon as I saw it: I gave Oscar his meds, and then had him sing with me as I massaged him, to distract him from the anxiety attack. It worked: by the time the attack would have taken over, the meds had kicked in, and Oscar was calmed down.”
Carmen makes $15 an hour. Right now, rising gas and grocery prices are eating into what little money she could be saving. Family, not money, means everything to Carmen, but every day she doesn’t make a living wage is another day she has to scrape cash together to keep food on the table. Right now, Carmen can’t even afford stable internet or the needed new tablet for Oscar’s Zoom classes; they have to make do with unreliable Wi-Fi and a tablet that is years old. When Carmen tried to apply for public assistance programs geared toward helping people with gas/transportation struggles, she never heard back from the program.
“We’re really struggling,” said Carmen.
That’s why Carmen and other IHSS providers in Alameda County are speaking out and supporting their Union’s Time for $20 campaign to establish a living wage floor in the industry. Learn more at https://www.seiu2015.org/timefor20/.
